Biden votes in person for Delaware primary

Joe Biden went to the polls Monday for the Delaware primary despite calls from him and other Democrats that the coronavirus pandemic demands a dramatic increase in mail-in voting.

The Democratic presidential nominee traveled to the New Castle County Board of Elections office for Tuesday's Delaware primary election. He told reporters he voted for incumbent Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, and he encouraged voters to vote early.

“Vote. Vote," said the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator. "Vote."

Under Delaware law, voters can request a mail-in ballot, go to the polls on Election Day, or make an appointment to cast their ballot early. Biden said he went to the polls on Monday because of a campaign event in Florida on the day of the primary.

For months, Biden and his allies have encouraged people to cast mail-in ballots in the upcoming election due to health concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Democrats in Congress have asked for billions of dollars to make sure the United States Postal Service is adequately prepared to handle a record number of mail-in ballots.

“We have to make it easier for everybody to be able to vote, particularly if we are still basically in the kind of lockdown circumstances we are in now,” Biden told donors in April. “But that takes a lot of money, and it’s going to require us to provide money for states and insist they provide mail-in ballots.”

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has expressed broad skepticism with the project, saying a sudden increase in remote voting is vulnerable to fraud and mishandling by state officials. Numerous polls show that Biden's supporters are far more likely to vote by mail than those who back the president.

“Mail ballots, they cheat,” President Trump said in August. “Mail ballots are very dangerous for this country because of cheaters. They go collect them. They are fraudulent in many cases. They have to vote. They should have voter ID, by the way.”