Trump\u2019s post marks an escalation even in his normally overheated election rhetoric. He issued a wide-ranging executive order<\/a> earlier this year that, among other changes,<\/a> would have required documented proof-of-citizenship<\/a> before registering to vote. His Monday post promised another election executive order to \u201chelp bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm elections.\u201d<\/p>\n The same post also pushed falsehoods about voting. He claimed the U.S. is the only country to use mail voting, when it\u2019s actually used by dozens, including Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A person votes at a polling site for the presidential primary election March 12, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson, File)<\/p>\n A person votes at a polling site for the presidential primary election March 12, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson, File)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Similar complaints to Trump\u2019s, when aired on conservative and conservative-leaning networks such as Newsmax and Fox News, have led to multimillion dollar<\/a> defamation settlements, including one announced Monday,<\/a> because they are full of false information and the outlets have not been able to present any evidence<\/a> to support them. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s post came after the president told Fox News that Russian President Vladimir Putin, in their Friday meeting in Alaska<\/a>, echoed his grievances about mail voting and the 2020 election. Trump continued his attack on mail voting and voting machines in the Oval Office on Monday, during a meeting<\/a> with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n The announcement signals yet another way that Trump intends to stack the cards in his favor in the 2026 midterm elections, after he already has directed his attorney general to investigate a Democratic fundraising platform<\/a> and urged states to redraw their congressional districts<\/a> to help the GOP maintain its majority in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a breakdown of Trump\u2019s latest election post and why Congress is the one entity<\/a> that can implement national election rules.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s post<\/p>\n Trump for years has promoted false information<\/a> about voting, and Monday was no exception.<\/p>\n He claimed there is \u201cMASSIVE FRAUD\u201d due to mail voting, when in fact voting fraud in the U.S. is rare. As an example, an Associated Press review after the 2020 election found fewer than 475 cases of potential fraud<\/a> in the six battleground states<\/a> where he disputed his loss, far too few to tip that election to Trump.<\/p>\n Washington and Oregon, which conduct elections entirely by mail, have sued to challenge Trump\u2019s earlier executive order \u2014 which sought to require that all ballots must be received by Election Day and not just postmarked by then. The states argue that the president has no such authority, and they are seeking a declaration from a federal judge in Seattle that their postmark deadlines do not conflict with federal law setting the date of U.S. elections.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n President Donald Trump gestures before greeting Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n President Donald Trump gestures before greeting Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Trump also alleged that voting machines are more expensive than \u201cWatermark Paper.\u201d That\u2019s a little-used system that has gained favor and investments among some voting conspiracy theorists who believe it would help prevent fraudulent ballots from being introduced into the vote count. Watermarks would not provide a way to count ballots, so they would not on their own replace vote tabulating machines. <\/p>\n While some jurisdictions still have voters use electronic ballot-marking devices to cast their votes, the vast majority of voters in the U.S. already vote on paper ballots, creating an auditable record of votes that provides an extra safeguard for election security.<\/p>\n In his post, Trump also claimed that states \u201care merely an \u2018agent\u2019 for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes\u201d and must do what the federal government \u201cas represented by the President of the United States\u201d tells them to do.<\/p>\n Election lawyers said that\u2019s a misrepresentation of the U.S. Constitution. It also flies in the face of what had been a core Republican Party value of prioritizing states\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n Thousands of elections, none under presidential control<\/p>\n Unlike in most countries, elections in the U.S. are run by the states. But it gets more complicated \u2014 each state then allows smaller jurisdictions, such as counties, cities or townships, to run their own elections. Election officials estimate there are as many as 10,000 different election jurisdictions across the country. <\/p>\n A frequent complaint of Trump and other election conspiracy theorists is that the U.S. doesn\u2019t run its election like France, which hand counts presidential ballots and usually has a national result on election night. But that\u2019s because France is only running that single election, and every jurisdiction has the same ballot with no other races.<\/p>\n A ballot in the U.S. might contain dozens of races, from president on down to city council and including state and local ballot measures.<\/p>\n The Constitution makes the states<\/a> the entities that determine the \u201ctime, place and manner\u201d of elections<\/a>, but does allow Congress to \u201cmake\u201d or \u201calter\u201d rules for federal elections.<\/p>\n Congress can change the way states run congressional and presidential elections but has no say in the way a state runs its own elections. The president is not mentioned at all in the Constitution\u2019s list of entities with powers over elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president has very limited to zero authority over things related to the conduct of elections,\u201d said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Courts have agreed \u2014 no presidential involvement<\/p>\n Parts of Trump\u2019s earlier executive order on elections were swiftly blocked by the courts<\/a>, on the grounds that Congress, and not the president, sets federal election rules. <\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear what Trump plans to do now, but the only path to change federal election rules is through Congress.<\/p>\n Although Republicans control Congress, it\u2019s unclear that even his party would want to eliminate voting machines nationwide, possibly delaying vote tallies in their own races by weeks or months. Even if they did, legislation would likely be unable to pass because Democrats could filibuster it in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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