US President Donald Trump pledged on Monday to issue an executive order to end the use of mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, a move likely to favour his Republican Party.
Federal elections are administered at the state level, however, and it remains unclear if the president has the constitutional authority to enforce such a measure. Legal challenges from some states are expected.
Democratic voters are traditionally more likely to use mail-in ballots than Republicans, making Trump’s announcement his latest effort to reshape the midterm election battlefield. He has also urged Republican lawmakers in states including Texas and Indiana to redraw congressional districts to increase the chances of Republican victories.
The November 3, 2026 elections will serve as the first nationwide referendum on Trump’s domestic and foreign policies since his return to power in January. Democrats will aim to regain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to block Trump’s domestic agenda.
“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
Later at the White House, Trump said the Republican Party must support the initiative if it wishes to retain power and noted that the executive order was in the process of being drafted.
Trump has long cast doubt on the security of mail-in ballots, despite evidence of voter fraud being vanishingly rare, and has repeatedly promoted the false narrative that he, not Democrat Joe Biden, won the 2020 election. He has also criticised electronic voting machines, advocating instead for paper ballots and hand counts—a process election officials say is slower, costlier, and less accurate than machine counting.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Legal experts, however, stress that states are responsible for administering federal elections under the US Constitution and that only Congress can regulate how they are conducted.
“The President has no power constitutionally to dictate to states the manner in which they conduct national elections,” said Richard Pildes, a professor at New York University Law School specialising in democracy and election law.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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