Calling the states “agents” of the federal government with respect to elections, President Trump says he plans to “lead a movement,” which would include issuing executive orders, to ban mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. States must follow his directive once it is handed down, he says. 

The president has long pushed the narrative that the main reason he lost the 2020 election was due to fraudulent mail-in ballots, though no evidence has proven such. In 2020, of the 15 states that tracked mail-in versus in-person voting, 13 gave Democrats double-digit margins among mail-in ballots, though President Biden won only seven of those states in the overall election. Currently, all 50 states permit voting by mail in certain circumstances. 

In a Truth Social post on Monday morning, Mr. Trump said that he wants to ban absentee ballots and certain voting machines from being used in next year’s elections. 

“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,” the president wrote in his lengthy message. 

He went on to state inaccurately that the United States is the only country in the world that allows for mail-in ballots to be used, though at least 34 countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany, permit some or all citizens to vote by mail. 

Mr. Trump says he plans to kick off the attempt to ban mail ballots via executive order, though that is nearly certain to face legal challenges almost immediately. Several states, including New Jersey, Virginia, and California, are holding elections for various offices this November. 

“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,” the president said. “Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM.”

The Constitution’s States and Elections Clause makes clear that individual states determine the “Places and Manner” of holding elections. The clause also makes clear that Congress “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”

Mr. Trump says the states must follow his order because the presidency itself represents the federal government. 

“Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Mr. Trump wrote Monday. “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.”

The president’s renewed interest in the mail-in ballot topic comes just days after President Vladimir Putin allegedly told him that he had only lost the 2020 election because of mailed-in absentee votes. 

“Vladimir Putin said something interesting — one of the most interesting things. He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Mr. Trump told Fox News after his Alaska meeting with the Russian president. “He said, ‘No country has mail-in voting. It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’”

The Russian Federation does not allow for traditional postal voting, though in 2020 Mr. Putin himself signed a law that permitted citizens to apply for online voting. In the 2024 Russian presidential election, Mr. Putin himself cast a ballot via the state-run online voting service, according to the state press outlet TASS.