President Donald Trump announced on Monday, August 18, 2025, that his administration is drafting an executive order aimed at banning mail-in voting before the 2026 midterm elections, a move that constitutional experts note falls outside the scope of presidential authority.
“We, as a Republican Party, are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots,” Trump declared during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We’re going to start with an executive order that’s being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots.”
Trump’s Case Against Mail Voting
The president argued that mail-in ballots open the door to fraud. “Mail-in ballots are corrupt,” he said, citing California as an example and claiming that “it’s so corrupt, where some people get five, six, seven ballots delivered to them.” Trump has repeatedly insisted that mail-in voting enables multiple ballots per voter and can be tampered with.
Election experts, however, dispute those claims. Shortly after the 2020 election, Debra Cleaver, founder and CEO of the nonpartisan group VoteAmerica, described widespread fraud through mail ballots as “a myth.” She explained, “The outgoing ballots have a barcode, and then when you send your ballot in, you put it in a return envelope and that barcode has to match the barcode that was sent out in order for the ballot to be counted.”
Christopher Krebs, then director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, also declared the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.”
Legal Hurdles and Constitutional Limits
In a social media post earlier Monday, Trump said his planned order would “help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.” He argued that states serve as “an agent” of the federal government in counting votes and therefore must comply with presidential direction.
Yet legal experts emphasize that Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to regulate elections, subject only to congressional—not presidential—oversight. This constitutional framework makes any executive order banning mail-in ballots highly unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny.
Trump’s Claim About Global Voting Practices
Trump also claimed, “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting,” arguing that Republicans must end the practice to secure fair elections. He added, “You will never have an honest election if you have mail-in. And it’s time that the Republicans get tough and stop it, because the Democrats want it. It’s the only way they can get elected.”
However, international election data contradicts his assertion. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, more than 30 countries—including Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark—permit voting by mail for some or all voters.
Mail-In Voting in the U.S.
Mail voting is entrenched in American elections. Twenty-eight states allow voters to request mail-in ballots without providing a reason, while others require justification such as illness or military service. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mail-in voting surged to 43% of ballots cast in 2020. Although usage dropped to just over 30% in the 2024 election, that still accounted for 46.8 million votes, according to the Election Assistance Commission—well above pre-pandemic levels.
Putin’s Comments and Historical Context
Trump also said Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized mail voting during their recent meeting, telling Fox News that Putin had called the practice a barrier to fair elections. Trump added that Putin told him, “You won that election by so much, and that’s (mail voting) how [Biden] got it.”
Independent audits and investigations—including some conducted by Republican officials—found no evidence to support claims that fraud altered the 2020 results.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, emphasized that mail-in voting has existed in the U.S. since the Civil War. He warned that eliminating it would destabilize the system: “Requiring states to eliminate or replace the voting machines that confirmed the election of this president, just 15 months before a midterm election and less than a year before primaries, is not possible and would result in chaos.”
