ABC News: Election officials gear up for single biggest day of voting during coronavirus, as Trump rails against vote by mail

President Donald Trump‘s recent tirade against mail voting was a defiant attempt at elevating his argument of voter fraud — without evidence — but it comes as the largest single day of voting since the onset of the coronavirus crisis is set to take place next week.

Even as Trump seeks to turn the issue into a pitched battle, election officials in a number of states, including those run by Republicans, are expanding access to the voting alternative as part of their broader preparations amid the pandemic for the June 2 election. …

Last year, lawmakers in Pennsylvania, which reported nearly 900 new coronavirus cases on Friday, implemented a vast expansion of absentee and vote-by-mail procedures, already inciting apprehension — especially when coupled with the state’s status as a 2020 battleground.

Suzanne Almeida, the interim executive director for Common Cause Pennsylvania, a voting rights organization, told ABC that for officials in Pennsylvania, “this was never going to be an easy election.”

“Pennsylvania in 2020 was always going to be crazy. It’s a swing state in the presidential election year. And then on top of that, in 2019 we passed historic voting reform that gave us vote-by-mail for the first time, and changed the voter registration deadline closer to election day,” Almeida said.