Donald Trump floats order to end mail-in ballots, voting machines

Trump provided no evidence to back up his claims of widespread problems with voting machines

President Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order ahead of next year’s midterm elections targeting mail-in ballots and voting machines, a move that would dramatically change how millions of Americans cast their ballots.

“I am going to 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,” Trump posted Monday on social media.

Trump provided no evidence to back up his claims of widespread problems with voting machines. The president has long made unsubstantiated allegations that his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden was tainted by fraud.

“WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections,” he added.

The president did not provide more details on an executive order or a timeframe for when he would sign one. Trump said last Friday Vladimir Putin agreed that voting by mail undermines trust in elections.

“Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can’t have an honest election with mail-in voting. And he said there’s not a country in the world that uses it now,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity after meeting the Russian leader, even though dozens of countries do so.

Federal judges blocked an order Trump signed in March that would require proof of US citizenship to vote and ban the counting of valid mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. Any new executive order to restrict the use of mail-in ballots or voting machines would almost certainly draw a court challenge as well.

Trump and Republican allies have repeatedly sought to put their imprint on how states conduct elections as fights over voter rolls, the counting of ballots and the drawing of congressional boundaries intensify.

State governments are responsible for setting the time, place and manner of holding federal elections under the US Constitution, but Congress is permitted to set regulations. Nonetheless, Trump warned states to follow his commands.

“Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Trump wrote Monday. “They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.”

After the 2020 election, Trump and many of his allies spread claims, without providing actual evidence, that voting machines were rigged. The drumbeat of fraud accusations culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, in which Trump supporters sought to halt the certification of Biden’s victory.

Fox News, which amplified false claims about Dominion Voting Systems Corp. machines, agreed in 2023 to pay the company $787 million to settle a defamation lawsuit but did not offer a formal apology.