The White House is drafting an executive order that could roll back mail-in voting and reshape election rules nationwide, according to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who claimed on Tuesday that the move was aimed at “strengthening our elections.”
“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system,” Leavitt said during a briefing.
When pressed by reporters to provide evidence of voter fraud in California, Leavitt offered none. “It’s just a fact,” she said.
Her comments came just hours after President Donald Trump erupted on Truth Social, attacking California’s vote-by-mail system as “rigged.” “The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”
The proposed order, according to Leavitt, would fall “within [Trump’s] full executive authority and within the confines of the law.” Yet constitutional experts and voting-rights advocates have long argued that federal attempts to limit mail-in voting would violate states’ control over election administration.
Trump’s hostility toward vote-by-mail is nothing new. During his presidency, he repeatedly claimed that mail ballots enabled fraud, despite multiple studies, investigations, and court rulings finding no evidence to support the claim. The ACLU’s Voting Rights Project director, Sophia Lin Lakin, criticized Trump’s earlier efforts to restrict mail-in voting, calling them “a blatant overreach.”
“Voting by mail as permitted by the laws of your state is legal,” Lakin said in a statement on the ACLU’s website. “Trump’s effort to target mail-in voting is a blatant overreach, intruding on states’ constitutional authority to set the rules for elections. It threatens to disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible voters and would no doubt disproportionately impact historically excluded communities, including voters of color, naturalized citizens, people with disabilities, and the elderly.”
The administration’s latest announcement came on a tense election night across the country. Voters in California approved Proposition 50, a redistricting initiative that will redraw congressional boundaries to favor Democrats. In New York City, progressive Zohran Mamdani defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the mayoral race. Meanwhile, Democrats also secured big wins in New Jersey and Virginia, with Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger cruising to double-digit victories in their respective gubernatorial contests.
Trump’s proposed executive order also follows a federal judge’s decision to permanently block a key part of one of his previous orders requiring proof of U.S. citizenship on federal voter registration forms.
Critics say the timing of the new proposal, paired with Trump’s unsubstantiated attacks on California’s voting system, is no coincidence. His Truth Social post, they note, seemed designed to create suspicion and rally support among his base ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
For now, the White House has not shared details of what the executive order will include or when it will be released. But Leavitt’s remarks made clear that Trump’s long-running war on mail-in voting isn’t over, it’s about to escalate.
