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President Donald Trump said Saturday he intends to issue an executive order mandating voter identification for all ballots cast, while also restricting the use of mail-in voting.
“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military,” he added.
The president has repeatedly criticized electronic voting machines and called for their elimination, advocating for a return to paper ballots and manual counts. Earlier this month, Trump also pledged to end both mail-in ballots and voting machines through executive action before the 2026 midterm elections.
It remains unclear whether the president has the constitutional authority to impose such restrictions, as federal elections are run by the states.
Earlier this year, Trump sought to implement voter ID requirements through an executive order as part of a broader election security effort. In April, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington blocked the sections of that order dealing with voter identification.
The judge ruled that Trump lacked the legal authority to issue such a directive, noting that the Constitution gives Congress and the states, not the president, the power to regulate elections.
“Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
The Nov. 3, 2026, elections will serve as the first nationwide test of Trump’s policies since he began his second term in January. Democrats are aiming to regain control of the House and Senate to counter his domestic agenda.