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Florida Democrats challenge Trump's plans to cut mail-in ballots before 2026 midterms

Florida Democrats challenge Trump's plans to cut mail-in ballots before 2026 midterms

Yahoo11 hours ago
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — President Trump announced his plans to sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. This move has reignited fierce debate surrounding voting by mail, and Florida Democrats are fighting back, challenging the president's constitutional authority.'We're going to start with an executive order that's being written right now by the best lawyers in the country, to end mail-in ballots,' Trump said from the Oval Office.
Florida accuses 2 companies of over charging school districts for instructional materials
The president posted on Truth Social Monday morning saying, 'ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS.''We would get secure elections; we get much faster results of machines. I mean they say we're going to have the results in two weeks, with paper ballots you have the results that night,' Trump said.
In the Sunshine State, Florida has a long history of making sure elections are secure and fair. The state legislature passed a bill back in 2021, led by current Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, which made a slew of changes to the state's elections law.
But just like with this recent call, state Democrats are still not on board.
'Florida actually has the largest population of seniors in the country. We have a number of Floridians who are disabled and just who aren't able to get to the polls. And we know that vote by mail has been a safe and convenient way for people to vote,' said State Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa).
Driskell said, just like in 2021, she believes her Republican colleagues could attach this idea to legislation next session.'I don't think that the case was ever fully made for why we needed to take such drastic changes. It was more so of the legislature trying to serve the political will of Donald Trump and furthering the big lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. And so, it makes me very nervous that we are on such uneven footing. I thought we'd move past all of that but here we are again,' Driskell said.
8 On Your Side sat down with political analyst Tara Newsom to dig into the current laws on the books.'President Trump will do this, but it doesn't mean he constitutionally can. Article 1, section 4 of the constitution is clear that the time, place and manner of elections is vested in the states.'
Newsom added that coupling up Trump's call to end mail-in ballots with the plans to redistrict mid-decade may be too much maneuvering for voters to support.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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