NYC Elections Board: Trump Skipped Primary Voting for Two Decades

(Reuters)

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump says he's considering running in the primary for the Republican presidential nomination, but the real estate mogul didn't vote in primary elections for more than two decades, according to the New York City Board of Elections.

The possible GOP candidate voted in a primary election in the 1989 New York City mayor's race -- when Rudy Giuliani beat businessman Ronald Lauder -- then didn't vote in a primary for 21 years, board spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez said Saturday. The report on Trump's voting record initially appeared on TV station NY1 a day earlier.

Records also show Trump skipped the 2002 general election, when Republican incumbent Gov. George Pataki defeated Democrat H. Carl McCall, Vazquez said. But Trump told the station he's voted in every general election.

"You're going to pay a big price because you're wrong," he told the station. "I have records that I voted and so does the Board of Elections ... I signed in at every election."

His lawyer, Michael Cohen, defended Trump's voting practices Saturday.

"For one of the greatest international businessmen who travels all over the country and the world, his voting record is very, very good," Cohen said.

Cohen said Trump could not be reached for comment Saturday. The lawyer also said he could not confirm which party Trump belonged to in previous years.

Besides real estate, Trump has been a reality TV star and he once flirted with the idea of running for president as a third-party candidate.

Recently, he said he's weighing a 2012 presidential bid and will make an announcement in June.

Trump created media waves by aligning himself with the so-called "birthers" by questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He also has said the U.S. should be entitled to Iraqi oil and he praised the tea party.