GOP governor says legal mail-in votes should be counted

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott said Friday that all legal votes cast in the 2020 presidential election need to be counted, including mail-in votes.

Scott’s comments came a day after President Donald Trump made baseless claims of fraud in the ballot-counting process for the presidential election.

“I know this process has caused a lot of anxiety, but this is the process,” Scott said, referring to the counting of the votes after Tuesday’s presidential elections and that it would take time to count those votes.

“I want to be very clear,” Scott said. “Every single legal vote should be counted and verified mail-in ballots are legal votes.”

Scott then quoted a tweet from Tom Ridge, the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and a former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, who wrote that the president’s Thursday comments “disrespected every single American who figured out a way to safely vote amid a pandemic, not to mention those who are dutifully counting that vote. Absolutely shameful."

Scott has been a frequent critic of Trump. After voting on Tuesday, he said he had cast his presidential ballot for former Vice President Joe Biden.