President Donald Trump reportedly bungled an attempt to register to vote in Florida in 2019, according to the Washington Post.
According to Trump’s registration form, cited by the outlet, in September 2019 Trump initially put his White House address, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC, on the form as his legal residence.
However, Florida requires people who vote in their elections to legally reside in the state.
According to the report, Trump subsequently resubmitted his form a month later, putting his Mar-a-Lago resort, situated in Palm Beach, Florida, as his legal residence.
The US President and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, changed their legal residence from Washington DC to Florida last year.
After this, Donald Trump was registered to vote in the state, and did so by mail in the Republican primary in March 2020.
There has not yet been an official response from the White House to the report.
The outlet points out that other voters have been forced to face serious consequences for making a mistake similar to the one reportedly attributed to Donald Trump, with some Democrats cited as underscoring the issue is listed on White House website as voter fraud.
When registering to vote in Florida, the maximum penalty for submitting false information is a $5,000 (£3,974) fine and five years in prison.
According to the outlet, a city manager who erroneously entered the wrong residence on his voting registration form was recently fined the maximum amount.
The report comes as Donald Trump has been criticizing the system enabling people to vote by mail in the 2020 presidential election, claiming this would potentially cause a large increase in ballot fraud.
Previously, Trump urged his party to fight "very hard" to prevent statewide mail-in voting, claiming it does not "work out well for Republicans."
His campaign also said that "under the guise of responding to the coronavirus crisis, Democrats have attempted to enshrine into law practices that are ripe for fraudulent voting."
On 24 May the president tweeted that the COVID-19 pandemic was being used to push for vote-by-mail which would result in a rigged election”.
The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history. People grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and “force” people to sign. Also, forge names. Some absentee OK, when necessary. Trying to use Covid for this Scam!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2020
MAIL-IN VOTING WILL LEAD TO MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE. IT WILL ALSO LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY. WE CAN NEVER LET THIS TRAGEDY BEFALL OUR NATION. BIG MAIL-IN VICTORY IN TEXAS COURT TODAY. CONGRATS!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
Calls to extend voting by mail to the November election have been coming from officials in the Democratic Party and some Republicans due to concerns over voters contracting COVID-19 amid the ongoing pandemic.
The outlet cites Tuesday’s primary election in eight states and Washington DC, with footage showing people who had not received absentee ballots in time queuing in line for hours, placing themselves at risk of contracting the virus.
