(The Center Square) – Casting a ballot may look different for millions of American voters in the 2026 midterm elections if Republican-led states follow President Donald Trump’s wish to abolish mail-in voting and electronic voting machines.
In a lengthy social media post Monday, the president announced he is planning to “lead a movement” to end mail-in ballots and voting machines, beginning with issuing an executive order in the near future.
Trump said the changes would restore election integrity and “help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.” He called mail-in voting a “SCAM” that can enable “MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD” and labeled paperless voting machines “Inaccurate,” “Expensive” and “Seriously Controversial.”
Using paper ballots, he added, “is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.”
“Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Trump said. “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.”
Under the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, however, the president cannot change election laws or compel states to do so. State legislatures set “the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives,” although “Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”
Some Republican lawmakers immediately praised Trump’s plan. Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she “strongly” supports ending mail-in voting and alleged that elections “have been stolen for decades with this practice that is ripe for fraud.”
Democrats fired back, with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., calling Trump a “wannabe dictator” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accusing Trump of attempting “to silence Americans and implement Jim Crow laws across America.”
“Senate Democrats will make sure that any and every measure that would make it even more difficult for Americans to vote will be dead on arrival in the Senate,” Schumer vowed.
More than 99 million Americans voted by mail in the 2024 General Election, according to the United States Postal Service. There is no evidence that either mail-in ballots or direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines – where voters cast ballots completely electronically – have enabled widespread voter fraud.
However, the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission unanimously voted in May to recommend that all election offices use “auditable and software-independent” voting systems to ensure they “have a paper record of every vote, such as paper ballots.”
“We recognize the importance of producing a paper trail for voting systems to enhance election verifiability, audit functions, and voter confidence,” EAC leaders stated. “While most jurisdictions already use voting systems that produce a paper record of every vote, the EAC has adopted this policy to encourage the few remaining election offices to follow their lead.”
