US President Donald Trump said Monday he would lead a "movement" against mail-in balloting as he sought to eliminate a voting method used by nearly a third of the country ahead of next year's midterm elections.
Trump, who has spent years railing against postal ballots, even though they have benefited his Republicans and he has voted by mail, said he would sign an executive order to help bring "honesty" to the midterms.
"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," he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Mail-in and absentee ballots can be counted after Election Day in 18 states so long as they're postmarked on or before that date, and just over 30 percent of those cast in the 2024 election were submitted by mail.
There is no evidence that postal voting is less secure than other methods, and pro-democracy groups say ending it could disenfranchise millions of Americans with disabilities and other difficulties turning out in person.
But Trump repeatedly spread misinformation about the practice as he campaigned in 2020 and 2024. After his defeat in 2020, he falsely claimed that tens of thousands of fraudulent mail-in ballots had helped Democrat Joe Biden beat him.
Trump said Friday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin -- who US investigators found interfered on the Republican's behalf in the 2016 election -- agreed with him that letting voters send in ballots by mail risked election integrity.
"You know, Vladimir Putin said something, one of the most interesting things," Trump told Fox News.
"He said, 'Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting.' He said, 'Mail-in voting, every election.' He said, 'No country has mail-in voting. It's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.'"
'Dead on Arrival'
Data compiled by the International IDEA organization shows there are 34 countries worldwide allowing in‑country postal voting, including Germany, Britain, Denmark and US neighbor Canada.
Trump issued an executive order in March directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to "take all necessary action" against states counting absentee or mail-in ballots received after the election, even if they were postmarked by Election Day.
A judge ruled that Trump lacked the authority to impose state election rules and blocked the edict.
Despite his criticism, Trump cast mail ballots twice in Florida in the 2020 primary elections and used absentee ballots in New York in 2018 and 2017. But he voted in person in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
And there was a brief about-face in 2024 when he announced the launch of a "Swamp The Vote USA" drive to encourage postal ballots, which analysts saw as a pragmatic acceptance of the reality that mail-in ballots are how many of his supporters vote.
Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democratic minority in the US Senate, accused Trump of seeking a return to the "Jim Crow" era of the late 1870s to mid-1960s, when states enforced racial segregation and disenfranchised African Americans.
"Let's be clear, this is not based in fact or reality, but it is yet another way for Trump to silence Americans from using their voice in the democratic process and implement Jim Crow laws across America," he said in a statement.
"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 and will continue to fight to protect our democracy."
AFP
Comments