Trump Signs Order Limiting Mail-in Voting

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday seeking to crack down on mail-in voting — an effort to exert control over the nation’s elections ahead of a midterm battle where Republicans could lose control of Congress.

“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible, what’s gone on. It’s very clearly covered … I think this will help a lot with elections,” the president said at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office today.

The executive order is a major escalation of Trump’s desire to change the way Americans vote, and is sure to draw a court challenge. Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic elections lawyer, said he plans to sue Trump over the order.

“If Trump signs an unconstitutional Executive Order to take over voting, we will sue. I don't bluff and I usually win,” Elias wrote on social media.

At the signing ceremony, Trump dismissed any potential challenge, saying "I don't know how it can be challenged. ... You may find a rogue judge. You get a lot of rogue judges, very bad, bad people, very bad judges. But that's the only way that can be changed, and hopefully we'll win an appeal.”

Trump’s order comes as midterm elections approach this November, with Republicans framing the effort to curb mail-in voting as necessary to bolster election integrity and Democrats warning it could disenfranchise eligible voters.

For years, Trump has falsely claimed that mail-in voting is insecure and vulnerable to electoral fraud, a claim he has used to justify a broader push to restrict or eliminate the practice, despite using it himself last week.

The order is reminiscent of the GOP-backed SAVE America Act, which has cleared the House and remains under consideration in the Senate. Trump has insisted Congress pass the measure, which has steep approval odds at the moment. That bill would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and push states to more aggressively remove noncitizens from voter rolls.

Trump’s order directs the Homeland Security Department, in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to create an approved list of absentee voters. The U.S. Postal Service would be directed to only send mail-in ballots to voters on that list.

The order also directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate anyone wrongfully distributing mail-in ballots, and threatens to withhold federal funds to states who don’t comply with the order.