Trump plans major shake-up of how Americans vote ahead of 2026 midterm elections
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he will "lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we're at it, Highly 'Inaccurate,' Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES."
The president — whose announcement comes just 10 days after a pair of councilmen in Hamtramck, Michigan, were charged with election and absentee ballot fraud — indicated that he will kick off this initiative with a forthcoming executive order aimed at ensuring honesty in the 2026 midterm elections.
'Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM.'
The president has long raised concerns over mail-in voting and voting machines.
Ahead of the 2020 election, Trump warned that mail-in voting "WILL LEAD TO MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE" and noted that "unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation's History!"
Trump also warned: "RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!"
Absent corrective action over such concerns, former President Joe Biden managed to somehow win the 2020 election, netting millions more votes than Kamala Harris did in 2024.
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FBI Director Kash Patel vindicated some of Trump's concerns, revealing in June that intelligence reports from August 2020 detailed "allegations of plans from the [Chinese Communist Party] to manufacture fake driver's licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots — allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public."
'ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING.'
Between January 1 and June 30, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 1,513 shipments containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses.
RELATED: Election officials rage as Trump administration pushes for election security
In addition to possible exploitation by bad actors at home and abroad, Politico highlighted another reason why Trump might want to spike mail-in voting: Historically, Democrats have turned in more mail-in votes than Republicans, who alternatively vote more often in person.
According to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, 62% of respondents who identified as Republicans or leaned Republican said voters should be able to vote early or absentee if they had a documented reason for not voting in person on Election Day. Only 17% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning respondents said the same.
The Election Assistance Commission indicated that nearly 15 million mail-in ballots were returned at ballot drop boxes in the 2024 election.
"With their HORRIBLE Radical Left policies, like Open Borders, Men Playing in Women's Sports, Transgender and 'WOKE' for everyone, and so much more, Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM," Trump wrote on Monday. "ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS."
Trump suggested further that other countries have ditched mail-in voting "because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED."
The president suggested it would be worthwhile to scrap voting machines because they supposedly "cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election."
The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution holds that "the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof."
Trump's allusion to working with the Republican Party to "BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS" signals an intention to lean on congressional Republicans to wield their constitutional authority to "make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) expressed support for Trump's initiative, writing, "We must do everything we can to protect the integrity of our elections. No more mail-in ballots!"
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray (R) called the elimination of mail-in ballots "common sense."
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While requiring voters to prove they are who they say they are does make elections more secure, the reality tends to be more complicated.
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