Gov. Charlie Baker is defending the state's system for voting by mail after President Donald Trump called the governor out by name for criticizing his position on mail-in balloting.
"The Baker-Polito Administration has complete confidence in Massachusetts' mail in voting system that worked as designed in the recent primary elections, and the Governor stands by his statements," Baker communications director Lizzy Guyton wrote in a statement Friday morning.
Trump tweeted Friday morning that "RINO Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts is unsuccessfully trying to defend Mail In Ballots, when there is fraud being found all over the place. Just look at some of the recent races, or the Trump Ballots in Pennsylvania that were thrown into the garbage. Wrong Charlie!"
The conflict between Baker and the president began Thursday when Baker rejected Trump's position on mail-in voting while responding to a press question about Trump's comment that he may not participate in the peaceful transfer of power should he lose the November election.
"It is appalling and outrageous that anyone would suggest for a minute that if they lose an election they're not going to leave," Baker said, adding that mail-in voting worked in the Massachusetts primary election earlier this month, "the same way it worked just fine across the rest of the country."
