It is “disappointing when anyone in leadership” makes fraud claims, said Kim Wyman, the Republican secretary of state of Washington state, which has had universal mail voting since 2010. “When it happens, the public loses confidence in the foundational pillar of our system.”

Wyman was part of a group of bipartisan election officials who spoke to reporters Thursday to push for money from Congress to deal with the virus.

In Iowa, Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate did not criticize Trump directly, but he, too, said that sowing “doubt about the integrity of the process is as dangerous as vote fraud.”

Iowa is mailing requests for absentee ballots to all 2.1 million registered voters ahead of special elections in July. Pate described the move as a reaction to “an emergency.”

“You need to have some flexibility,” he said.