U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Monday to issue an executive order to end the use of mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, a move likely to disproportionately favor his Republican Party and spark legal challenges by some states.
Democratic voters typically use mail-in ballots more than Republicans, who more often vote in person.
Trump's pledge is his latest effort to reshape the midterm election battlefield to his party's advantage. He has also urged Republicans in states including Texas and Indiana to redraw congressional districts to increase the likelihood of a Republican candidate being elected.
The November 3, 2026, elections will be the first nationwide referendum on Trump's domestic and foreign policies since he returned to power in January. Democrats will be seeking to break Republicans' grip on both the House of Representatives and the Senate to block Trump's domestic agenda.
"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," Trump wrote in a social media post.
Trump, who has promoted the false narrative that he, not Democrat Joe Biden, won the 2020 election, has also long cast doubt on the security of mail-in ballots, although evidence of voter fraud is vanishingly rare.
Johanna Warshaw, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, called Trump's threats a blatant attempt to silence voters.
"Democratic governors are the last line of defense against Trump's attacks on our fundamental freedoms, and they will stand up for the rule of law and the right to vote at every turn," Warshaw said.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS
Trump has for years called for the end of electronic voting machines, pushing instead for the use of paper ballots and hand-counts, a process that election officials say is time-consuming, costly and far less accurate than machine counting.
Some Republican-led states such as Florida have embraced mail-in voting as a safe, convenient way to expand voter participation. Trump himself voted by mail in some previous elections and urged his supporters to do so for the 2024 presidential election.
Mail-in ballots hit record highs in the U.S. in 2020 as states expanded options for voters amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the numbers dropped in 2024, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
More than two-thirds of voters in the 2024 general election cast their ballots in person, while about three in 10 ballots were cast through the mail, according to the commission.
Trump's comments follow his meeting with his Russian counterpart on Friday, after which Trump said Vladimir Putin agreed with him on ending mail-in balloting.
Each of the 50 U.S. states runs elections separately, but Trump warned them to comply.
"Remember, the States are merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do," Trump wrote.
Every U.S. state has some form of absentee or mail-in ballot option, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
There are 28 states that allow absentee voting without a reason required, eight states and Washington, D.C. conduct their elections entirely by mail, and the remaining states require a voter to provide an excuse to qualify for an absentee or mail ballot, the NSCL said.
The practice of mail-in balloting has become a source of litigation in recent presidential election cycles, with both parties suing election officials over procedures for counting mail-in ballots.
