President Donald Trump made a series of false claims about elections in a Monday social media post in which he pledged to “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS” and voting machines – including an inaccurate assertion that states have to run elections in the manner the president tells them to.
Here is a fact check of some of Trump’s comments.
“We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.”
False. Dozens of other countries use mail-in voting, as CNN and others have pointed out when Trump has made such claims before. These countries include Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland.
The specifics of different countries’ policies vary, but it’s simply not true that every other country has abandoned mail-in voting.
“WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
Trump’s claim about Democrats is nonsense. There is simply no basis for the assertion of massive cheating. US federal elections are free and fair; there has generally been a tiny quantity of ballot fraud representing a minuscule percentage of votes cast.
“Our elections are more secure, transparent, and verified than ever before in American history, thanks to the thousands of professional election officials of both parties, at the state and local level, that oversee them,” David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonpartisan nonprofit, said in a Monday message to CNN.
“…Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS.”
More fiction. Mail-in voting is a legitimate method used by legitimate voters to cast legitimate ballots. Elections experts say the incidence of fraud tends to be marginally higher with mail-in ballots than with in-person ballots – but also that fraud rates in federal elections are tiny even with mail-in ballots.
Republican-dominated Utah is among the states where voters are automatically sent mail-in ballots (though it is now phasing out that policy); its elections, like other states’, have been free of widespread fraud. And it’s worth noting that Trump himself encouraged supporters to vote by mail in 2024.
“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.”
That’s not what the Constitution says. Here’s what it does say: “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, states set their own election policies unless Congress passes a law preempting them. The Constitution does not grant the president himself the power to simply tell states what to do, using an executive order or anything else.
Experts quickly debunked Trump’s claim.
“The President and his advisors should direct their attention to Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution which he’s sworn to preserve, protect and defend. That clause states unambiguously that the regulation of elections is the power of the states, and only Congress can change that. The President plays literally no role in elections, and that’s by design of the founders,” Becker said.
Becker and University of California, Los Angeles law professor and election law expert Richard Hasen both said they expected federal courts to rapidly block any Trump executive order that tries to ban states from using mail-in voting or voting machines. They noted the courts have this year affirmed the president’s lack of power over elections in rulings against his efforts to change other voting policies via executive order.
Hasen wrote in a Monday web post that Trump is free to “lead a movement” against mail-in ballots and voting machines, but that the president’s stated intention to sign an order “purporting to direct how the midterm elections will be run,” on the grounds that states are a mere “agent” of the federal government, “is wrong and dangerous.”
“The Constitution does not give the President any control over federal elections,” Hasen wrote.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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