President Donald Trump on Monday fired off a batshit Truth Social post in which he promised to sign an executive order that he claims will force states to get rid of both mail-in voting and electronic voting machines.
"Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. 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," Trump wrote in the post, which was filled with lies about mail-in ballots and voting machines being rife with fraud.
Trump’s executive order comes days after Russian dictator Vladimir Putin apparently told Trump that mail-in voting is bad and that the U.S. shouldn’t have it.
"Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can't have an honest election with mail-in voting," Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview after Trump’s failed summit with his favorite dictator. "He said there's not a country in the world that uses it now."
It goes without saying that no one should take advice on how to conduct fair elections from Putin, who has his opposition murdered and rigs elections so that he holds onto power.
Also, other countries do use mail-in voting. Mail voting is common in Europe as well as in many Asian counties, such as South Korea and India.
Of course, whatever Trump concocts in his apparently forthcoming executive order will be toothless since he cannot tell states how to conduct their elections.
It's written plainly in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 4:
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.
That means that Trump does not have the unilateral power to demand states change their election laws.
"Such an effort would violate the Constitution and is a major step to prevent free and fair elections," left-leaning election lawyer Marc Elias wrote on social media, in response to Trump’s promised executive order.
Trump has been obsessed with banning mail-in voting for years, even though he has voted by mail multiple times. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, he attacked mail-in voting—likely as a way to explain away a possible loss. And he’s blamed mail-in voting for his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, even though that loss was simply because voters hated him after his chaotic first term and bungled response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The focus on voting machines is also absurd. Hand-counting paper ballots is not only more error prone, but it would also take a massive amount of time to do, making it impossible to have the kind of quick election results he also demands.
Ultimately, Trump's claim that he will force states to get rid of voting methods is his latest attack on free and fair elections since he sadly took office again in January.
In March, he signed an executive order that said he would withhold federal grant money from states that do not force voters to prove they are American citizens by showing photo ID when registering to vote.
He is also demanding that Republican-controlled states, like Texas, redraw their congressional maps earlier than normal, to try to rig the 2026 midterm elections for the GOP.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
