MS NOW-Trump signs executive order targeting mail-in ballots. But it might have no teeth.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The order, which the president signed late Tuesday, attempts to make significant changes to mail-in ballots in an effort to crack down on voter fraud, despite no evidence that such fraud is a widespread problem.

Trump signs executive order targeting mail-in ballots. But it might have no teeth. www.ms.now/news/trump-s...

— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-04-01T00:20:11.014Z

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-signs-executive-order-targeting-mail-in-ballots-but-it-might-have-no-teeth

But the order is likely to run up against multiple legal challenges given that the U.S. constitution expressly gives the power to run elections to the states, with some authority delegated to Congress.....

Election experts immediately pointed out that the president has little authority to implement the executive order.

“Some may freak out about this, but honestly, this is hilarious. It’s clearly unconstitutional, will be blocked immediately, and the only thing it will accomplish is to make liberal lawyers wealthier. He might as well sign an EO banning gravity,” said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.

In a statement to MS NOW, Becker said that “there’s not a single provision in here that will withstand judicial review. This is a wholly unconstitutional executive order. It will be blocked before the ink is dry. The president has no power under the constitution to dictate to states how they run elections.”

The president has long lambasted mail-in voting as “cheating,” despite little evidence of it being misused. Trump himself voted by mail in a recent Florida election, even after denouncing the practice. The signing of the executive order comes as Trump has demanded—so far unsuccessfully —that Congress pass the SAVE Act, an elections bill that requires proof of citizenship when signing up to vote and for voters to produce a photo ID at the polling place. He has insisted lawmakers include a ban on mail-in voting in the legislation, though that language has yet to be adopted.....

Trump’s Justice Department has demanded voter registration lists from almost all 50 states, and sued 29 states and Washington D.C. for not complying. A dozen other states have agreed to provide that information, including Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

The Trump administration has also long called for requiring identification and proof of citizenship at the polls, restrictive measures that voting rights experts said enable voter suppression.

[Chasstev365]

1. All of the state of Oregon votes by mail and it's their right as a state to set their voting procedures.

Even in Trump world, how in the hell could a ban on vote by mail be constitutional?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. MaddowBlog-Trump's elections power-grab on mail-in voting is likely to fail, but it's not irrelevant

It might be tempting to brush off the president’s executive order as pointless political theater. But it’s not quite that simple.

It might be tempting to brush off Trump’s latest elections power-grab as pointless political theater since the executive order will fail in the courts.

But when a president becomes the nation’s most serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process, it matters.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-01T12:58:44.338Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-elections-power-grab-is-likely-to-fail-but-that-doesnt-mean-its-irrelevant

As March came to an end, the Republican again ignored his own country’s policymaking process, again decided to circumvent Congress and again signed an executive order giving himself sweeping authority over the country’s elections systems. MS NOW reported:

Trump’s order requires the Department of Homeland Security … to create a list of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. DHS would be expected to rely on information provided by the Social Security Administration, according to the Daily Caller, which first reported the Trump administration’s plans.

The U.S. Postal Service would then use that database to send absentee ballots to voters identified as eligible for mail-in voting, according to a White House fact sheet. The ballots would be mailed in envelopes with special codes only to voters enrolled in state-specific absentee ballot programs.

.....If Trump’s policy is ridiculous, and its failure in the courts appears inevitable, it might be tempting to brush off his latest gambit as pointless political theater.

But it’s not quite that simple. For one thing, the latest power-grab is part of a comprehensive effort to undermine public confidence in the nation’s electoral system and sow doubts about election results that Republicans don’t like. The president has played an instrumental role in fueling unnecessary public skepticism, and his executive order is likely to make a bad situation worse.

For another, Trump continues to position himself as the nation’s single most serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.

On Tuesday morning, The New York Times published an op-ed by Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who made a convincing case that the most pressing danger to our elections isn’t coming from abroad; it’s coming from the White House.

“For months, President Trump has made his intentions clear,” the senator wrote. “He has called for the federal government to ‘take over’ elections, impose national rules and override state authority. Now we are beginning to see how he may plan to do this.”

Later that same day, the president helped prove Warner right.