What's the REAL reason Trump is vowing to ban mail-in voting nationwide?
Between the federal takeover of DC and Europes leaders descending on the White House to discuss a path to peace in Ukraine, the president had time yesterday to make a rather random Truth Social post promising an executive order to end mail-in voting and voting machines in time for the 2026 midterms.
This isnt just a bad idea its unconstitutional and illegal.
States run elections and set most of the rules per our constitution and well-established court decisions and Congress also sets some rules that are tied to federal funding. Theres really no place for any president to unilaterally seize this power by executive order.
The federalism brick wall
The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives states the lead on the Times, Places and Manner of congressional elections, subject to alterations by Congress not by the executive. For presidential races, Article II says states decide how electors are chosen. Both lines point to the same place: Governors and legislatures, not the Oval Office, control how Americans cast ballots. An executive order trying to erase a states mail-ballot rules runs headfirst into that text.
https://www.brightamerica.org/p/whats-the-real-reason-trump-is-vowing

Easterncedar
(4,897 posts)The hypocrisy is overwhelming
returnee
(646 posts)like the Voting Rights Act are being dismantled.
no_hypocrisy
(52,989 posts)polling places, with less polling places and longer lines.
SouthernOregonDem
(3 posts)Should Democrats take back the House (and perhaps even the Senate), he wants to be able to say that the election was a scam and therefore won't accept the results. It's a no-lose for him. If he can limit mail-in voting in red states, it might help his side. But if he can't limit them overall, he has his big reason for refusing to accept the results.
slightlv
(6,539 posts)Only his mouth, obstinance, and willingness to abuse power keeps him there. I've said all along we won't have another presidential election, and now I"m really wondering about midterms. I think they only way I'd accept elections at this point is if we had a massive amount of oversight by well-respected first-world democratic nations, prior to and during the elections.
C_U_L8R
(48,029 posts)Whatever there is... there is no good reason to prevent voting by mail or any other means
dweller
(27,070 posts)cant change them
change my mind 😑
✌🏻
LatteLady
(84 posts)Serious doubts exist about the legitimacy of the 2024 election, with multiple discrepancies in computerized vote tallies in 7 swing states.
LetMyPeopleVote
(169,519 posts)Last edited Tue Aug 19, 2025, 07:22 PM - Edit history (1)
If Trump is taking tactical advice from Putin about how to hold an election, that doesnt bode well for the future of American democracy.
MSNBC: Three ways Trump is already trying to rig the midterms www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— (@jwwcan.bsky.social) 2025-08-19T21:10:36.706Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-rig-midterm-elections-redistricting-mail-in-voting-census-rcna225826
Thats one way Trumps trying to rig the midterms by demanding changes to congressional district maps to make it structurally impossible for Democrats to control Congress again.
Heres a second way: Trump also appears to be trying to establish a pretext for nullifying or delaying the midterm elections everywhere, demanding a new census and claiming the old one shouldnt count.
The census is how we get congressional districts. If Trump can nullify the existing census by, for example, blaming the counting of immigrants or some other factor, he can lay the groundwork to claim that all the existing congressional districts in the country are somehow wrong and cant be used and therefore, we cant have congressional elections using the districts we now have. Thats two.
Now, it seems Trump has a new idea, one that he got from a man he once mused could become his best friend: Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, Trump held a summit in Alaska with the Russian president. Immediately after that summit, Trump said Putin gave him some advice on how to conduct elections in the U.S.
Trump said Putin agrees with him that people should not be allowed to vote by mail. And so on Monday, Trump announced that he will sign an executive order barring Americans from voting by mail and potentially by machine, as well.
Link to tweet
vapor2
(3,028 posts)bob4460
(343 posts)From the Epstein files
slightlv
(6,539 posts)PLEASE take this beast from our sight! Right freaking now! I don't want to die before he does.