Joe Biden hires voting rights director, contrasting Trump's move to hinder mail-in ballots

The Biden campaign hired a senior staffer to aid in voter protection issues as the debate over absentee ballots comes to a head.

Biden's campaign said on Tuesday it hired Rachana Desai Martin as its national director for voter protection and senior counsel. Martin has a background in voter protection work and previously worked as chief operating officer of the Democratic National Committee as well as its director of civic engagement and voter protection.

The move comes as several states consider a universal mail-in ballot option in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced the state would provide absentee ballots for all registered voters in the fall. Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson also said last week that all registered Michigan voters were sent absentee ballot applications.

The decisions made by states have met the ire of President Trump, who has connected mail-in ballots with increased voter fraud.

"There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed," Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday. "The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone. living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!"

The tweet was met with an alert from Twitter fact-checking claims that absentee voting results in voter fraud.