Election officials in Pennsylvania confirmed the final count of thousands of mail-in ballots from Union Army soldiers today which ensured a second term for President Abraham Lincoln.
Republican Party leaders and the Trump campaign quickly claimed that Army ballots should count for the 2020 election despite the fact that every single voter is dead.
“The legal votes of every brave soldier must be counted,” said Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for The White House and the Trump Campaign. “They were clearly intended for the Republican Party, and it’s not the soldiers’ fault that government mismanagement interfered with their will.”
“The military really loves me,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Always have. Probably because of that accelerated Gatling Gun development thing. That was on my watch.”
Historians agree that military absentee ballots were critical in the close 1864 election between Lincoln and his Democratic Party opponent, former Gen. George McClellan, though Gen. Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in September 1864 has boosted Lincoln’s leadership standing. The Trump campaign draws a direct connection between the two elections, separated by only 156 years.
