Donald Trump targets mail ballots and voting machines ahead of next year's mid-term election

Irish Independent

19 hours ago

Democratic voters typically use mail-in ballots more than Republicans, who more often vote in person.
Mr Trump's pledge is his latest effort to reshape the mid-term 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 Mr 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 Mr 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,' Mr Trump wrote in a social media post.
Mr 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.
Democratic governors are the last line of defence against Trump's attacks on our fundamental freedoms
During his Oval Office appearance with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump said lawyers were currently drafting an executive order to assist with the effort to roll back mail-in voting. He also said he would target voting machines, instead favoring watermark paper for ballots.
'That's bigger than anything having to do with redistricting, believe me,' he said. 'And the Republicans have to get smart. We're not going to have a country.'
Johanna Warshaw, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, called Mr Trump's threats a blatant attempt to silence voters. 'Democratic governors are the last line of defence 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,' Ms Warshaw said.
Mr 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. Mr Trump himself voted by mail in some previous elections and urged his supporters to do so for the presidential election last year.
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Mail-in ballots hit record highs in the US in 2020 as states expanded options for voters amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but the numbers dropped last year, according to the US 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.
Mr Trump's comments follow his meeting with his Russian counterpart on Friday, after which Mr Trump said Vladimir Putin agreed with him on ending mail-in balloting.
Each of the 50 US states runs elections separately, but Mr Trump warned them to comply.
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
'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,' Mr Trump wrote.
Every US 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, DC, 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.
Meanwhile, a group of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to prevent the Trump administration from forcing them to co-operate with immigration enforcement activities in order to receive grant funding to support crime victims. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Rhode Island is the latest case to challenge efforts by Mr Trump's administration to impose immigration-related conditions on states' ability to receive federal funding.
The lawsuit by state attorneys general in 20 states and the District of Columbia takes aim at a condition the US Department of Justice recently imposed on the ability of states to receive grants pursuant to the Victims of Crime Act, which Congress enacted in 1984 to bolster support for crime victims.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. The department administers programmes funded by fines and penalties assessed in federal criminal cases that allow states to receive grant funding to provide services for victims including medical care, counselling, shelter and compensation for lost wages.
Attorneys general from states including California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island say those funds help about 10 million people annually. This year, nearly $1.4bn (€1.2bn) in such funding is available, the lawsuit said.
But under a new Trump administration policy, states can lose out on such funding if they decline to provide US Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to facilities or honour all civil immigration enforcement requests, the lawsuit said.