Overview

• Posting on Truth Social, the president said an executive order is being drafted to eliminate mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines, advocating a shift to watermarked paper ballots.
• Trump repeated unsupported claims that mail voting and machines enable widespread fraud, assertions contradicted by independent research and by International IDEA’s finding that many countries use mail voting securely.
• In the U.S., states administer elections under constitutional and statutory frameworks, and experts say a unilateral federal order to change voting methods would likely be struck down in court.
• A federal judge already paused parts of a separate Trump election order this summer that targeted voter registration rules and late-arriving mailed ballots, highlighting the legal hurdles ahead.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the plan as a desperate political move, as the announcement lands during fierce partisan fights over redistricting in states such as Texas and California; Trump also claimed Vladimir Putin echoed his objections to mail voting.