On August 25, 2025, President Donald Trump reignited the national debate over voting rights and election security with an explosive post on Truth Social: he pledged to lead a movement to end mail-in ballots in the United States, promising an executive order to ban what he called a “corrupt” system before the 2026 midterms. “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS,” Trump declared, adding, “You know we are the only country in the world, I believe, I may be wrong, just about, the only country in the world that uses them because of what happened, massive fraud all over the place.”
Trump’s statement marks the latest escalation in his campaign against mail-in and absentee voting, a crusade that has gathered momentum since his loss in the 2020 presidential election. According to RealClearPolitics, Trump has long argued that mail-in voting opens the door to widespread fraud, citing incidents both in the U.S. and abroad. He’s not alone in this belief: a Rasmussen poll at the end of 2024 found that 59% of likely voters think mail-in voting makes cheating easier, with majorities across racial and age groups sharing this view. Only Democrats, liberals, graduate-school alumni, and those earning more than $200,000 disagreed, according to the poll.
But while Trump’s rhetoric is forceful, the legal and political realities are far more complex. In Arizona, for example—a state where mail-in voting is deeply entrenched and popular—Trump’s promise to ban the practice has triggered a flurry of responses from across the political spectrum. The irony is hard to miss: it was Republican lawmakers who introduced no-excuse mail voting in Arizona back in 1991, hoping to boost turnout when voter apathy was high. The effort worked, raising presidential election turnout from 67% in 1988 to 77% in 1992. By the 2024 presidential election, roughly 75% of Arizonans, including the majority of Trump supporters, cast their ballots by mail, according to data from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, as reported by the Tucson Sentinel.
Despite Trump’s calls to ban mail-in voting, efforts to roll back the system in Arizona have repeatedly failed. Since 2020, far-right Republicans have tried to pass laws banning no-excuse mail voting and have filed lawsuits challenging its legitimacy, but these efforts have not gained mainstream support. The system’s popularity among Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike has made it a political third rail. Even Trump-backed candidates who lost in 2022, such as Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh, have praised Trump’s stance, but their attempts to overturn election results through the courts have been unsuccessful.
Trump’s critics, including current and former Arizona officials and voting rights groups, have been quick to push back. The Democracy Defense Project, which includes former Republican Governor Jan Brewer and former U.S. Representative Matt Salmon, issued a joint statement emphasizing that “our elections are decentralized by design, allowing states and local jurisdictions to operate in the manner that best meets the unique needs of their voters.” They warned that any changes to the system “could result in decreased voter access and upend our mail-in voting system that has been in place for many decades.”
Arizona Representative Stephanie Simacek, a Democrat from Phoenix, echoed these concerns, stating, “The Constitution grants states the authority to set and administer their own elections, which in itself provides our country its own unique form of election security. Donald Trump plans to undermine that election security for his own benefit with an illegal executive order attempting to ban mail-in voting and voting machines.”
Legal experts agree that Trump’s proposed executive order faces steep constitutional hurdles. Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project and political science professor at UCLA, wrote earlier this week that “the Constitution does not give the President any control over federal elections.” This view is shared by a broad range of scholars and former officials, who note that America’s federal system was designed to prevent centralized power from dictating state election procedures. Brewer and former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, both Republicans, argued in RealClearPolitics that “federal meddling with how states conduct their elections violates this principle and undermines the trust voters place in their local officials.”
The debate over mail-in voting is not limited to Arizona. Nationwide, the U.S. stands out for its widespread use of absentee and mail-in ballots. According to RealClearInvestigations, most European countries have either banned or tightly restricted absentee voting for citizens living inside their borders, often in response to past fraud scandals. France, for instance, banned absentee voting after large-scale fraud was uncovered in Corsica in 1975. England responded similarly after a 2004 scandal in Birmingham. In the U.S., however, absentee ballots are readily available and require little justification.
Concerns about mail-in and absentee ballot fraud are not new. The bipartisan 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform, led by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III, warned that “absentee ballots are the largest source of potential voter fraud.” Recent incidents have kept the issue in the headlines. Earlier this year, prosecutors in Texas indicted six individuals for harvesting ballots and buying votes by collecting absentee ballots. In Hamtramck, Michigan, a city council candidate’s aide was caught on surveillance video stuffing three stacks of ballots into a drop box, prompting a fraud investigation. Advocates for stricter voting rules argue that such cases demonstrate the risks inherent in mail-in voting.
Yet, for millions of Americans, mail-in voting remains a trusted and convenient method to participate in democracy. Advocates point to decades of successful elections, particularly in states like Arizona, as evidence that the system can be both secure and accessible. “Mail-ballots have long been a secure voting method that Arizona voters have utilized to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” said the board members of the Democracy Defense Project. “Any changes to the system now could result in decreased voter access and upend our mail-in voting system that has been in place for many decades.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has moved to tighten federal rules around political activity and student aid. On August 19, 2025, the Department of Education announced new guidance barring colleges from using Federal Work Study funds to employ students in any partisan or nonpartisan political activities, including as poll workers, voter assistance staff, or in voter registration drives. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent stated, “Federal Work Study is meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce, not as a way to fund political activism on our college and university campuses.” The new policy aligns with a March 2025 executive order by President Trump to preserve election integrity and ensure “free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion.”
As the 2026 midterms approach, the battle lines over voting rights, mail-in ballots, and election integrity are being drawn once again. Both sides claim to be defending the principles of democracy, but their visions for how Americans should cast their ballots could not be more different. The coming months will test not only the legal boundaries of presidential power, but also the resilience of America’s decentralized election system and the trust voters place in it.
