Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy voiced support for “mandatory” voting and online ballots during the 2020 presidential election, despite telling “Meet the Press” on Sunday that “we need paper ballots.”
“We need single day voting on Election Day. We need paper ballots, and we need government issued ID matching the voter file,” Ramaswamy told NBC’s Chuck Todd.
However, on Nov. 4, 2020, one day after the election, Ramaswamy said he wanted “electronic at-home voting.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican primary presidential debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“Electronic at-home voting. Make it universal; submit a blank ballot if you want,” he posted on X. “One per SSN for every adult citizen. No ballot fraud. No voter suppression. No wasted money on ‘get-out-the-vote.’ Most importantly: greater civic engagement. Thoughts?”
Ramaswamy also said at the time that he wanted to make voting mandatory.
“I’m suggesting making it mandatory,” he wrote.
Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for clarity on his position.
Ramaswamy has previously voiced support for a constitutional amendment raising the voting age from 18 to 25, unless a person serves in the military or as a first responder or can pass the civics test immigrants take when becoming U.S. citizens.
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Nixon Library on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, in Yorba Linda, California. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Ramaswamy made his comments Sunday while criticizing former Vice President Mike Pence for missing “a historic opportunity” to unite the country on Jan. 6, 2021.
He said he would have pushed through “reform” in the Senate to achieve “election integrity” before certifying the 2020 election.
“In my capacity as president of the Senate, I would have led through that level of reform, then on that condition certified the election results, served it up to the president, President Trump, then to sign that into law, and on January 7th, declared the re-election campaign pursuant to a free and fair election,” he said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy square off at the first Republican presidential nomination debate, on Aug. 23, 2023 in Milwaukee. (Fox News)
Critics, conservative and liberal, have pointed out that the vice president cannot introduce legislation into the Senate, as Ramaswamy appeared to have suggested.
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The Pence campaign also fired back at Ramaswamy, accusing him of joining “radical progressives in wanting to nationalize our election system.”
“Vivek’s statement today on January 6th is both shocking and concerning in its lack of understanding of how our system of government works,” Pence campaign spokesman David James told NBC News. “In one breathe he joins Nancy Pelosi and radical progressives in wanting to nationalize our election system, and in another he claims that the Vice President has unilateral authority to decide when to certify elections.”
