When President Donald Trump announced last week that he is planning to “lead a movement” to abolish universal mail-in voting, the Democrats went nuts, labeling him a ruthless authoritarian bent on a naked power grab. They quite literally accused him of trying to rig elections and disfranchise active-duty soldiers and seniors while plotting to end democracy.
Not one of these hysterical Democrats bothered to address what Trump actually proposed, which was ending mass mail-in voting practices that are ripe for fraud while preserving absentee voting for those who truly need it – like soldiers serving overseas. He initially floated an executive order to accomplish this before suggesting that he would pursue legislation to outlaw such practices.
The Democrats responded by bellowing absurd accusations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom brayed, “Trump openly admits he wants to rig elections by killing mail-in voting!” Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego growled, “Our soldiers deployed overseas vote by mail… Trump doesn’t think they deserve to vote.” Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingle squealed, “Mail-in ballots are critical for seniors… We are not a democracy if everyone cannot participate.”
These people studiously ignored the inconvenient fact that the first president to warn us about the risks of mail-in voting was a Democrat, the late Jimmy Carter. The bipartisan 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, noted among its other findings that, “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
This conclusion was reached for reasons that should be obvious. Because mail-in voting occurs outside of the easily monitored environment of local polling places, it inevitably produces serious logistical problems and increases the potential for skullduggery. This is particularly true when safeguards are inadequate or when partisan activists and paid harvesters handle the ballots.
Yet, like the Democrats, the corporate “news” media ignored these issues and focused on “fact-checking” Trump’s claim that the U.S. is the only country that still uses mail-in voting.
This was indeed a hyperbolic assertion, but the President is certainly correct to say that the U.S. is an outlier in its widespread use of mail-in ballots. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance provides a map confirming that only 5.9 percent of the world’s nations permit universal mail-in voting. Another 9.8 percent issue a smattering of absentee ballots at voter request, while 84.3 percent of countries prohibit mail-in voting altogether.
Still, the Democrats have pushed hard to implement universal mail-in voting at the state and national level. At present, eight states have what the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) quaintly refers to as “mostly mail” elections – California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. All but one are now permanent Democrat fiefdoms (Utah is phasing out its vote-by-mail system).
Moreover, the inefficiency that characterizes elections in these states is stunning. California set the gold standard for incompetence during the 2022 midterm cycle. According to a report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF):
“After accounting for polling place votes and rejected ballots in November 2022, there were more than 10 million ballots left outstanding, meaning [California] election officials do not know what happened to them …Mail voting practices have an insurmountable information gap. The public cannot know how many ballots were disregarded, delivered to wrong mailboxes, or even withheld from the proper recipient by someone at the same address.”
One reason for this vast information gap is that most of these states send all registered voters mail-in ballots based on poorly maintained voter rolls, despite the fact that the “Help America Vote Act” (HAVA) requires states to maintain accurate and current lists of all legally registered voters.
Due to a habitual lack of compliance by these states, the Department of Justice is taking action. According to a report by Just the News, “The Trump Justice Department has launched a nationwide effort to clean up voter rolls ahead of the 2026 elections, pushing states to purge duplicate and outdated registrations and catch any non-citizens or illegal aliens who slipped into a position to vote.”
Should the United States emulate the 5.9 percent of countries that still have universal mail-in voting? The Democrats certainly believe so. The last time they controlled the Presidency and both Houses of Congress, they introduced no fewer than three bills that would have usurped the power of the states to write their own election statutes—the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the For the People Act.
Each of these bills would have forced universal mail-in voting in all 50 states. If not for GOP filibusters, one or more of them would have been passed and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden.
Would universal mail-in ballots really be that bad? Hans A. Von Spakovsky, a senior legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former FEC commissioner, answers that query with this question: “Ask yourself: If you won $500 million in the Powerball lottery, would you put your winning ticket into an envelope and trust the U.S. Postal Service to deliver it to the state agency that administers the lottery?” The obvious answer is, of course, “Hell No!”
For years, the USPS has discouraged Americans from sending checks in the mail because of security issues. Is there anyone out there who believes the USPS can make our mail-in ballots any more secure?
All of which brings us back to President Trump’s pledge to “lead a movement” to eliminate universal mail-in voting. He can’t get rid of the practice by simply issuing an executive order. The Elections Clause of the Constitution reads as follows: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”
In other words, the President’s power is limited to his ability to persuade Congress to pass a bill killing mail-in voting and then signing it.
Still, as we saw during the debate over the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump’s powers of persuasion are pretty impressive. Moreover, there is little doubt that the GOP majorities in both Houses of Congress generally agree with him on the need to eradicate universal mail-in voting.
Trump should begin putting pressure on the Republicans to produce a bill limiting mail-in voting to members of the military stationed overseas and voters who, for some other legitimate reason, can’t get to their designated polling places. They probably can’t include such a provision in the “Reconciliation 2.0” bill that is already in the works due to requirements that the provisions of that bill be directly related to spending.
Then comes the final hurdle: The GOP majority in the Senate is not “filibuster-proof.” Just as the above-discussed “election reform” bills succumbed to the filibuster rules, which require 60 votes in the Senate to pass most legislation, the Democrats would certainly filibuster any bill that attacks universal mail-in voting.
The GOP could eliminate the filibuster in a 51-49 vote – and in doing so cross a political Rubicon that Republicans themselves passionately argued against crossing when Democrats were in power. Such a move would likely open them up to some serious blowback from voters.
The wrinkle in all of this is that the Democrats have promised to kill the filibuster the next time they gain a governing trifecta. Will they follow through on that pledge? If Republicans believe they will, why not throttle the filibuster now for a good cause? Might allowing Democrats to filibuster an anti-mail-in voting bill pave the way for rampant nationwide fraud the next time liberals gain power?
Those questions are as difficult as the ones Julius Caesar had to grapple with when crossing the literal Rubicon two millennia ago. Let us pray that GOP leaders at least approach this problem with the seriousness and gravity it deserves.
David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.
More Democrat gaslighting.
(Why is it always the Dems that oppose what should be considered common sense?)
No secure way to verify mail in ballots the way it is practiced now.
Apparently even dead people were allowed to “vote” by mail. You need to present a freakin’ ID for practically everything you do in this country. (except to vote or to obtain a mail-in ballot)
About time to end democrat cheating once and for all!
We do need mail in or some other type if absentee voting mehod for our troops overseas, housebound seniors and contract workers overseas. But no others. I am sure secure safe plan can be put into place. Why do Dems have to lie and exaggerate what is said.
Trump is working overtime to put the treason party on the mat. Everything from the deed to the farm and the kids education fund is on the table in 14 months. If the dems retake the house they will paralyze T during his last two years.
As usual, the “Chicken Little” Dems are beating their chests, lamenting “Woe is me!” and crying that the “Sky is falling!” Typical Dem response to anything President Trump says, proving once again that Trump Derangement Syndrome is still active in the afflicted minds of the Libtards.
Excellent article with excellent writing.
The very fact is everything that matters, requires some sort of identification, for democrats, election integrity isn’t one of them.
America’s worst and most dangerous ENEMIES WITHIN are Democrat voters, and the corrupt, lying and evil Democrat politicians they elect. They have a total of lack common sense, morals, and a sincere patriotic love for America and her values.
One idea is to change the actual Election Day from a TUESDAY to a Saturday (early voting) and Sunday. One two day weekend period. In person only except for military serving overseas and elderly not able to physically go to polling places. Most people work on Tuesdays making it hard to get to a polling station and make it to work. Would save time and money and virtually eliminate ballot fraud.
What is being proposed and should have been already part of the absentee ballot use, was that only the registered voter would be making that request and be the one responsible for using their choice of how they vote. Absentee ballots should have never be mass mailed out to every address by only on request by the registered voter. And if the registered voter is not making the effort to actively vote, whose fault is that? No registered voter should have to be “spoon fed “ to make the “effort “ to vote, they should know that they have to vote to achieve their desired outcome. This is one action that technology can not be used to eliminate—the actual voting process. No one is really that busy that they can’t take the few minutes to make the effort to vote especially if they have made the effort to be a registered voter. And exercising your voting rights occurs for every single election not just the Presidential election, a registered voter has and should be voting in all elections that occur every year, especially those local elections that are affecting their daily lives. Just posting complaints doesn’t remove that elected local official if you don’t go out and vote them out of office. 100% of all registered voters should be voting all the time not just the 15% of the registered voters who were actually voting. If you can post on social networks you can actively participate in voting too. Make the effort to vote in person if possible. No one is that busy.
There is a reason for Dems. howling, screaming, frenzy and panic and it is not a worry about the common good .
o boy…”Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingle.. “Mail-in ballots are critical for seniors… We are not a democracy if everyone cannot participate.”” Hey Dingle-aling You are correct on one part of your statement—we are NOT a democracy we are a Constitutional REPUBLIC! Voter rolls need to be cleaned up on a regular basis. People move-they need to update their drivers licenses. Things could be interesting for those “snowbirds” who live in one state part of the year and another for the rest of the year. So should voter rolls accurately reflect where people are living. The deceased no longer have any concerns in this world, so they should be removed also.
How many of those mail-in ballots accidently on purpose get thrown out because you have to mark your party on the envelope. Of course, they only recognize the 2 parties even though there are many who consider themselves independents.
There may be blowback from nonlegitimate voters but I think the majority of the real deal will support Trump on this!
Conservatives must start STANDING UP. And I mean PHYSICALLY! Get out in the streets by the thousands on this stuff! Beat demoncrats at their own game! COME ON!
There was no mail in voting until the Civil War, then it was only for Union soldiers actually away in battle. Oh, and there were no cars to take people to polling places, and the percentage of eligible voters actually voting was over 75%. Yet today, with vehicles to carry us and mail in ballots for nearly anyone who wishes to attempt to vote we have a hard time breaking 60% of eligible voters to vote. So why have mail in ballots? I contend they breed dishonesty, disloyalty, and a desire to harm our nation.
Without unlimited mail in voting where, for example, John Smith, J. Smith, J.P. Smith, John P. Smith, yadda-yadda, all from the same address get to “vote”, the Dems would never win another election.
Uh-oh
Its simply common sense, and an awareness that ballots will and do fall into the wrong hands, unless they have been requested by a disabled voter, so that absentee voting can be assured. And these ballots must be counted on election day. This also, is just common sense. Mailing ballots are a cost to we the people, many of us disagree with this.
I just want paper ballots and same day, or within a week of election day. We should know the results the same night, not weeks later. The democrats show their need to cheat, to get the results they want, IMO.
need to quit paying these authors by the word!