Overview

• In a Truth Social post, the president said he will lead a national campaign to scrap mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines and to switch to watermarked paper ballots, adding that an order is being drafted.
• He again alleged mass fraud tied to mail voting without presenting evidence and asserted that states must follow federal directives on counting and tabulation.
• Constitutional scholars and voting-law experts say election administration belongs to states and any such order would be swiftly challenged, noting a federal court in June halted parts of an earlier Trump directive on registration and mail ballots.
• Roughly 30% of votes were cast by mail in 2024, and research by the Brennan Center and the Bipartisan Policy Center, along with international data from IDEA, finds mail voting common and secure in many democracies.
• Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the proposal, and voting-rights analysts warned it would reduce access for seniors, people with disabilities and overseas voters.