The US President Donald Trump on August 18 spoke out against voting by mail and promised to lead a movement to abolish this practice ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. He had previously appealed to Putin for support on this issue.
Politico and Reuters write about this.
"Elections can never be fair with mail-in voting, and everyone knows it, especially the Democrats. I, along with the Republican Party, will fight with all my might to restore fairness and integrity to our elections," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has opposed mail-in voting for years, insisting that the practice, in part, helped Democrats rig the 2020 election and cost him his victory.
The American president said he would sign an executive order to help "ensure integrity" in the 2026 midterm elections. In addition to voting by mail, he would also focus on voting machines — favouring watermarked paper ballots instead.
After talks with Putin in Alaska on August 15, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that the Kremlin leader had expressed support on this issue.
"Vladimir Putin, a smart guy, said you canʼt have a fair election using mail-in voting. He said thereʼs not a single country in the world right now that uses it," Trump said.
- Historically, Democrats have cast more votes by mail than Republicans, who vote in person more often. But vote-by-mail participation skyrocketed during the 2020 election due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has remained high in subsequent elections.
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