Trump to push voter ID and mail-ballot limits for 2026 midterms

President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will issue an executive order requiring every U.S. voter to show identification and seeking to bar most mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, a move that legal experts say is likely to face immediate court challenges and practical obstacles because states administer federal elections. Trump announced the plan in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying, "Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!" He added, "Also, No MailIn Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military."

Trump did not provide details about how the order would be structured or enforced. He also reiterated long-standing calls to eliminate electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots and hand counts. Election officials have said hand counting is time consuming, costly and can be less accurate than machine tabulation.

The announcement builds on Trump’s repeated assertions that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, claims that have been widely rejected by courts and election authorities. Trump and some Republican allies have also alleged, without...