Trump casts presidential ballot for himself as Florida resident

US president Donald Trump wearing a face mask leaves after voting in the 2020 presidential election at the Palm Beach County Library in West Palm Beach, US, on 24 October 2020Reuters

US president Donald Trump voted in his new home state of Florida on Saturday, casting his ballot for his re-election at a public library across the street from one of his golf clubs.

Trump, wearing a mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus, voted using a paper ballot. Supporters gathered in the library parking lot chanted “four more years” as he voted inside.

“It was a very secure vote, much more secure than when you send in a ballot,” Trump said, repeating unfounded allegations that mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud.

“I voted for a guy named Trump,” he said.

Trump’s stop at the voting location in West Palm Beach, Florida, was the first event in what will be a long day on the campaign trail with events in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Trump changed his residency from New York to Florida a year ago. In 2016, he and his wife, Melania, had voted at Public School 59 just a few blocks from Trump Tower in Manhattan. He voted by absentee ballot in the 2018 midterm elections, a White House spokesman said at the time.

His vote in Florida, a swing state, is about 5 miles from the oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club that is now his residence.

Trump had requested an absentee ballot but decided to vote in person.

“I like being able to vote. I’m old fashioned I guess,” Trump told thousands on Friday at a rally at The Villages, Florida.