The president said the move is needed before the November 2026 midterm elections.
President Donald Trump on Monday said that he will sign executive orders targeting mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, adding that such a move is needed to make U.S. elections more honest.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump signaled that he will take action against voting by mail in the United States—a practice that he has long derided—before the November 2026 midterm elections that will determine which party will have control over Congress.
“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS,” Trump wrote in the post, suggesting that the United States is one of only a few countries that use mail-in ballots.
“All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED. WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT,” he wrote on the platform, referring to the other countries.
In the post, Trump did not provide more details on the executive orders he would sign but appeared to offer a preview of arguments his administration might make in court challenges that are sure to be filed after they’re signed.
The president then said that he would sign an executive order ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, adding that states “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.”
For years, Trump has criticized mail-in voting and said the practice is rife with fraud and leads to election outcomes being prolonged. During the aftermath of the 2020 election, his legal team brought lawsuits that argued that vote-by-mail policies initiated by states amid the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic led to fraudulent ballots being cast in that contest.
In the 2024 election, approximately 30 percent of votes cast were via mail-in ballots, according to a report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. And in the 2020 election, 43 percent of all votes were cast by mail, the report found.
Executive orders signed earlier this year by Trump sought to overhaul elections across the country, although parts of those orders were blocked by judges in several cases. The U.S. Supreme Court in July said it would consider whether a challenge in Illinois can proceed in a case that is among several Republican-backed lawsuits seeking to impose an Election Day deadline for mail ballots.
