Trump vows order to end mail-in ballots before 2026 midterms

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots and to curb the use of voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, announcing his intent to lead a national movement to restore what he described as election honesty. In a long post on Truth Social, he framed the issue as a national crisis, arguing that mail-in voting is prone to fraud and that states, which administer elections, should follow directions from the Federal Government. He did not provide details of the proposed order, and legal experts immediately noted questions about the President’s authority to unilaterally reshape U.S. voting practices.

Trump asserted that the United States is the only country that uses mail-in voting and renewed false claims that 2020 was stolen because of such ballots and the voting machines used to count them. He wrote that he planned to end what he called the “mail-in ballot hoax,” and he tied the issue to broader arguments about national integrity and border security. He also claimed that voting machines are inaccurate, expensive, and controversial, and he floated the idea of replacing them with alternative methods such as...