President Donald Trump has revived a familiar strategy: attacking the credibility of mail-in voting. It could hurt his own party.
The president’s pledge this week to eradicate voting by mail could undo the work by other Republicans to expand the practice, election strategists, consultants and lawyers told NOTUS.
“Like with many issues, I think the president’s ignorance is getting in the way of his interests,” said Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican strategist who left the party over his opposition to Trump. “It’s not in his interest to screw with mail-in ballots. I think his power to do so is limited, but it’s not the first time that he’s been blatantly wrong and disconnected from the facts on an election process issue.”
The president has been adamant for years that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, although there is no evidence to suggest that is true.
The United States Postal Service processed more than 99 million ballots in the 2024 general election. It’s a popular way for people from both parties to vote early: Mail-in ballots were key to delivering Republican wins in 2024, including in tossup races like Pennsylvania’s Senate race. It also helped deliver the presidency for Trump in key battleground states like Arizona, where the majority of voters vote by mail.
“We have done it in a safe and secure way here in Arizona for more than a generation,” Arizona GOP consultant Barrett Marson told NOTUS. “One could argue that in Arizona, mail-in-voting helped propel Donald Trump to victory.”
While Trump has criticized voting by mail, other Republicans have worked to catch up with Democrats on early voting, pouring millions of dollars into mobilizing early votes.
One proponent of these efforts was Tricia McLaughlin, a former Republican strategist who now serves as a spokesperson for Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.
“Republicans have to play the same game that Democrats play, which is early voting, legal ballot harvesting, doing everything, everything we can to get our voters out there to the ballot box, whether it be in-person, by mail or absentee,” McLaughlin told ABC News in September 2024.
McLaughlin did not respond to an inquiry from NOTUS about whether or not she’d changed her mind.
Viewing elections as a sheer numbers game, mail-in voting is a way to lock up votes early that can help deliver elections.
“Anything can happen on a random Tuesday that also happens to be Election Day,” said one strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “So if you’ve already voted, that vote is in the bank, and nothing that happens to you can stop you from having your vote counted. If you cast your ballot on October 20, but you die on October 22, that is a valid vote.”
Trump is pressing ahead anyway. In his Truth Social post announcing the crusade on mail-in voting and voting machines, the president suggested that states must answer to the federal government on how they conduct elections.
Roy Herrera, a Democratic lawyer who has worked as counsel for both Arizona senators and the Biden and Harris campaigns in 2024, told NOTUS the president has no constitutional authority to force states to get rid of mail-in voting, and that constitutional challenges are likely if the president seeks to do so.
“Would Republicans be comfortable with a Democratic president just unilaterally deciding that every state should have same-day voter registration? I have a feeling that if the tables were turned in that scenario, Republicans would be like, ‘No the president does not have the authority to do that at all,’” he said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt signaled Tuesday that Trump may rope Congress into his crusade. While the president doesn’t have the authority to make changes to how states conduct elections, Congress has some ability to regulate state voting policies.
“The White House continues to work on this, and when Congress comes back to Washington, I’m sure there will be many discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill and also our friends in state legislatures across the country to ensure that we’re protecting the integrity of the vote for the American people,” she said. “I can assure you this is a priority for the president.”
The White House did not answer specific questions from NOTUS about the president’s push against mail-in voting, instead directing NOTUS to Leavitt’s Tuesday comments.
Both Murphy and California Democratic strategist Dan Rottenstreich pointed out that in some states, including California, Republicans used to dominate mail-in voting. That has since changed because of the president’s attacks on the method.
“It’s completely switched. And if you talk to Republican consultants privately, they’ll say it’s been incredibly detrimental to them,” Rottenstreich said. “I see this as part and parcel of what Trump is doing to give himself and his party every single potential advantage they possibly can get in the upcoming midterm elections.”