Trump Pledges Executive Order to Scrap Mail-In Ballots, Voting Machines

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will spearhead a movement to eliminate mail-in ballots and certain voting machines from U.S. elections, declaring that only paper ballots with watermarks can restore honesty to the nation’s voting system.

The president, writing in a lengthy Truth Social post, said the campaign would begin with an executive order aimed at bringing “HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.”

“We are now the only country in the world that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED,” Trump wrote. “We will begin this effort, which will be strongly opposed by the Democrats because they cheat at levels never seen before.”

Push Against Mail-In Ballots and Machines

Trump reiterated his longstanding claim that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud and suggested that electronic voting machines are unreliable and costly.

“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, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper,” he posted. “This leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.”

He also asserted that states act as “agents” of the federal government in conducting elections, and therefore must follow directives from Washington–an assertion constitutional scholars quickly rejected.

Legal and Political Pushback

Democrats and civil rights groups vowed to resist any effort to abolish mail-in ballots, saying millions of Americans rely on them, particularly the elderly, the disabled, and those lacking transportation.

“Eliminating mail-in ballots and voting machines would disenfranchise countless eligible voters,” said New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned Trump’s plan as an attack on a “safe, proven, and reliable” system.

Legal experts stressed that Trump lacks the unilateral authority to impose such sweeping changes. “The president doesn’t have any unilateral authority over election devices, and the states principally control presidential elections,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Political Stakes

The announcement comes as Trump seeks to secure Republican control of Congress in the 2026 midterms. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, and Trump has pressed GOP-led states to redraw congressional districts to strengthen their hand.

His renewed focus on mail-in ballots also comes after his meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump told Fox News that Putin referenced the 2020 U.S. election, saying: “Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting.”

Mail-in voting peaked in 2020, when 43% of ballots were cast by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic. It dropped to 30% in the 2024 elections, but still remains above pre-pandemic levels.

Some Republicans have argued that Trump’s repeated attacks on the method hurt their own turnout. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., voiced strong support for Trump’s plan, calling mail-in ballots “ripe for fraud.”

Looking Ahead

While Trump’s executive order is expected in the coming weeks, its enforceability remains in question. States traditionally administer their own elections, and any federal effort to override that authority would likely spark a constitutional showdown.

For now, Trump appears determined to make election reform a centerpiece of his campaign to retain GOP control and restore what he calls “faith in America’s elections.”

(Worthy News) –

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