US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he plans to sign an executive order to eliminate the use of mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines before the 2026 midterm elections — a move that could give his Republican Party a strategic edge, reports Breaking News.
However, since federal elections are managed at the state level, it’s uncertain whether the president holds the constitutional authority to implement such a directive. Legal challenges from individual states are anticipated.
Democrats have historically used mail-in ballots more than Republicans, and Trump’s proposal marks his latest attempt to reshape the electoral playing field to benefit his party. He has also encouraged Republican-led states like Texas and Indiana to redraw congressional boundaries to increase Republican chances at the polls, reports Breaking News.
The upcoming elections on November 3rd, 2026, will serve as the first national judgment of Trump’s domestic and international policies since he reassumed office in January. Democrats will aim to regain control of the House and Senate to impede Trump’s policy goals.
“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, reports Breaking News.
Speaking later at the White House, Trump urged fellow Republicans to support the initiative if they intend to maintain power, adding that the executive order is currently being prepared.
Trump, who continues to falsely claim he won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden, has repeatedly questioned the integrity of mail-in ballots, even though voter fraud remains exceedingly rare, reports Breaking News.
He has also consistently advocated for eliminating electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots and manual counting, a system that election officials argue is slower, costlier, and less precise than machine tabulation.
“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,” Trump wrote in his social media post, reports Breaking News.
But constitutional scholars argue that states hold the authority to oversee federal elections and that only Congress has the power to establish election regulations.
“The President has no power constitutionally to dictate to states the manner in which they conduct national elections,” said New York University Law School professor Richard Pildes, an expert in democratic legal matters, reports Breaking News.
Trump’s remarks came after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, where he claimed Putin supported his stance on eliminating mail-in ballots.
Some Republican-controlled states like Florida have actually supported mail-in voting as a reliable and accessible method to increase voter turnout. Trump himself has previously voted by mail and encouraged his base to do the same in the 2024 election, reports Breaking News.
The use of mail-in ballots reached unprecedented levels during the 2020 election due to expanded access during the COVID-19 crisis, but declined in 2024, according to the US Election Assistance Commission.
Roughly two-thirds of voters in the 2024 election cast their ballots in person, while about 30% voted by mail, data from the commission showed, reports Breaking News.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, every US state offers some version of mail-in or absentee voting, reports Breaking News.
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