Trump wants to order end to mail-in voting, use of certain voting machines

by · UPI

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Monday said he will sign an executive order banning mail-in ballots and "inaccurate" voting machines, five years after he claimed he lost the presidential election because of those voting methods.

Trump has repeatedly said the 2020 election was "rigged," especially because of expanded mail-in voting options implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. Numerous lawsuits and audits told him otherwise: Joe Biden secured the most votes and the most in the Electoral College.

"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, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday morning.

He repeated these allegations in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

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With mail-in voting, which is also known as absentee voting, registered residents receive a ballot with an option to mail it back, personally bring it to an election office or drop it into a secure drop-box.

Trump has sometimes voted outside a polling site. He became a resident of Palm Beach in Florida in September 2019, after his legal residence was New York City. Florida has had some form of absentee voting since the Civil War.

"WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections," he added in the social media post.

Typically, more Democrats vote by mail.

Mail-in ballots hit a record 43% in 2020, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The 2024 election had a 30.3% rate. States' laws on voters' ability to obtain a ballot by mail vary.

Trump also claimed: "We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED."

Several other countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, use mail-in voting, CNN reported.

States have different rules on write-in ballots. Some require them to arrive on Election Day and others allow them to arrive days later. People voting overseas are allowed by federal law to have their postmarked ballots arrive within 10 days of the election.

In eight states, voting is allowed to be entirely done by mail: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington state. Some other states allow certain elections only by mail.

Besides these states, New Jersey, as well as the District of Columbia, mail ballots to all of those registered to vote, regardless of whether they asked for one. Trump has been critical of this.

His order is likely to face court tests, especially because elections are run by states.

Massachusetts District Judge Denise J. Casper blocked an executive order on ballots, saying Trump didn't have the authority to prevent states from counting mail-in ballots that are postmarked on Election Day but arrive afterward. She was appointed by President Barack Obama.

On Monday, Trump said he has the authority.

"Remember, the States are merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes," he wrote. "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 said Democrats are "virtually Unelectable with using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM."

"ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS," Trump wrote. "I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS."

He added: "THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!! REMEMBER, WITHOUT FAIR AND HONEST ELECTIONS, AND STRONG AND POWERFUL BORDERS, YOU DON'T HAVE EVEN A SEMBLANCE OF A COUNTRY."

Newsmax on Monday agreed to pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation suit against the conservative media company over its 2020 presidential election coverage.

Paper ballots are scanned in electronically in some places, and others use machines with touchscreens or buttons.

There is little voting fraud, experts say.

"Our elections are more secure, transparent, and verified than ever before in American history, thanks to the thousands of professional election officials of both parties, at the state and local level, that oversee them," David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonpartisan nonprofit, told CNN.