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President Donald Trump said Monday that he would “lead the movement” to end mail-in voting in the election. I believe the Constitution, Congress and the state will also make their statement.
This issue re-emerged as Trump’s stably when his previous most pressing business was his efforts to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. It appears to have been rekindled or at least excited by Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Vladimir Putin reinforced Trump’s unfounded view that mail-in voting “equipped” the 2020 election at the Alaska summit.
In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday, Trump told him “one of the most interesting things” and that Putin had told him during the summit that it had something to do with the credibility of mail-in voting.
“He said: “Your election has been integrated because you have mail-in votes. …It’s impossible to have mail-in votes and have honest elections,” Trump said.
It’s wrong that the US is the only country per vote. So are other countries like Canada and the UK. Russia has been heavily criticized, including by the US government, for not having a free and fair election.
Trump then pledged his true social platform on Monday and issued an executive order aimed at banning votes by voting.
“Remember, don’t forget that states are merely ‘agents’ to the federal government in counting votes and counting,” Trump wrote. “They must do what the federal government is telling them to do so, for the benefit of our nation, as the President of the United States represents.”
He also raised it when he met with Ukrainian president Voldymi Zelenki later that day, saying “mail-in votes are corrupt.”
But Trump faces high legal and political hurdles to change the laws governing federal elections. GOP’s success in the use of mail-in voting in major swing states, including the constitution, federal and state laws, the popularity of absentee voting, and Trump’s hometown, Florida.
The Constitution gives state legislatures the power to choose “times, places, attitudes” for House and Senate elections, and preserves the right to pass laws that will override them. The nation also has the power to determine how the presidential elector is chosen under the constitution. Federal law requires states to accept mailed votes from Americans living abroad, including veterans.
“I don’t want to assume the possibility of an executive order, but I think it’s clear that the era, location and manners of elections are set by the state. That’s in the constitution,” said Matt Weil, vice president of the Center for Democracy Policy at the Center for Bipartisan Policy, a think tank in Washington.
To change them, “it takes legislative actions,” Weil said. And doing that isn’t a small feat when Democrats can block laws in the Senate.
“Senate Democrats confirm that any measures that make Americans even more difficult to vote will die when they arrive in the Senate and continue to fight to protect democracy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said in a statement.
The Republican National Committee hinted at the power of Congress in a statement Monday in support of Trump’s plan.
“Under his leadership and direction, the RNC will continue to build on successful and historic election integrity efforts for the 2024 election cycle and will be prepared to implement all changes made to our country’s election laws by the President and Congress,” said RNC spokesman Kiersten Pels. “The Republican election integrity motto is simple. We want it to be easier to vote and make it difficult to cheate.”
Beyond these challenges, many Republicans say Trump is fishing in a politically toxic pond where he has been left behind.
“From a pure tactical perspective, that’s useless,” said a former Trump campaign official who works on the interim campaign.
Amid his 2020 reelection failure, Trump discourages Republicans from voting early and absentee, and believes that many of his allies will sacrifice his vote. In contrast, in 2024, his advisors convinced him to embrace those practices on the premise that he could vote early, and to embrace them on the premise that he would not have to spend money to mobilize those who have already voted.
Trump’s new push is destined to fail, former campaign officials said, and that could rob Republican turnout in the process.
“It discourages us from using mail-in voting. “It’s going to exist,” he says, “This is what he’s an independent voter saying, ‘What? What are you talking about?
There are several types of voter fraud that make headlines for each election, but how common is voter fraud really? This is what you need to know.
Trump’s White House recently hosted a group of Secretaries of State to discuss “our continued commitment to election integrity.”
While Larose still supports Ohio’s mail-in voting law, Kindel said, “We look forward to seeing more details about what the president is proposing. … Changes to Ohio’s voting process require a general assembly vote.
Trump’s dislike for absentee voting is perhaps most notable as Republicans have recently succeeded in the Florida election – Trump’s success in his hometown coincides with the state’s GOP mastery of mail-in voting. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wills is a longtime supporter of early voting in the state, helping Trump see his benefits across the swing state in 2024.
Will and several other White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In Florida, Trump’s push to crack down on mail-in voting is preventing Republicans from hampering decades of efforts to build email programs. Ever since they began developing email-in programs in the 1990s, state Republicans have been controlling their democratic counterparts using methods Trump dislikes.
But his message has changed the Florida landscape, however, allowing Democrats to step up their efforts and gain the advantage in the first time they vote, even if they win states in 2020 and 2024.
“For years, we had to build our voting plan on the fact that GOPs have a huge advantage in voting by mail,” longtime Florida democratic operative Steve Schale said in a message to NBC News. “We used VBM to drive sporadic voters to vote. We rebutted by first voting people in person early and then voting for VBM.”
The slip in dominance of Republican votes has disappointed some of the state’s veteran Republicans.
“There was a time when Republicans owned it by mail and were dependent on votes,” said Mac Stipanovich, a longtime Republican operation that helped build Florida’s voting program but left the GOP in disagreement with Trump. Stipanovich, former Republican governor Bob Martinez’s chief of staff, said the idea of expanding votes to make it easier for all voters to vote was “a disgust towards Trump Republicans who are dressed as a way of preventing voters from fraud.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has tried to sign a sweeping of such laws in recent years following Trump’s call to crack down on state votes. They worked as intended. During the 2020 presidential election, 4.3 million mail-in ballots were held in Florida. This fell to 3 million people last year in presidential contests.
Some changes are what is relevant even for Republican election officials, particularly the requirement that voters update their votes per vote, demanding each election cycle.
“That’s a big deal,” former Republican Florida Sen. Alan Hayes, now a Lake County election supervisor, told a Republican-led state legislative committee in February. “Our theory was that if we had the luxury of checking boxes on a general election return ballot, we would have said, ‘Enable my vote in email requests’, but we could have kept sending them special election ballots. ”
Florida Secretary Code Bird, DeSantis’ appointee and Trump supporter, did not reply to requests for comment on Trump’s new push to crack down on votes by mail.
“When the rules apply, mail-in voting is good,” said a second former Trump campaign official. “I think this is stupid.”
Democrats responded harshly to Trump’s true social post, even as they waited to see the actual proposal. Connecticut Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she was ready to go to court to block him if necessary.
“Donald Trump is trying to gain power ahead of the 2026 election and he says he will ban voting by mail,” Griswold said. “This is a direct attack on democracy. The state oversees elections, not Trump. It challenges illegal executive orders and defeats this unconstitutional attempt to deprive millions of Americans of rights.”
Oregon has fully held elections by mail and was the first state to hold presidential elections by mail. Oregon Secretary Tobias Reed emphasized that voter fraud is “very rare.”
He said Trump “believes that he is “actively working to destroy our election.” If he is inclined to actually understand or care about Americans, he will know that mail-in voting is truly the best way to protect everyone’s voting rights, especially for rural people, seniors and people who work hourly.”
Reading also pointed to the state’s constitutional role in determining how elections are held, adding, “We intend to protect the rights of Oregonians and the rights of the state in order to choose how we elect our representatives. This is a real threat.”
Some Trump allies have long denounced voting practices other than Election Day, so no one would be surprised if he wasn’t surprised by his desire to stop mail-in voting.
“It’s the same position the president has always held,” said someone familiar with Trump Camp’s ideas. “That being said, if the email votes still exist, if they exist in 2026, we will use them to win.”
Contributors were Julie Zilkin, Insura Ali, Bridget Bowman and Gabe Gutierrez.
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