Trump Issues Trump Mail-in Voting Order Tightening Rules in 2026
Donald Trump issued a trump mail-in voting order in late March 2026 that sharply tightened mail-in voting rules and gave the United States Postal Service unprecedented powers to issue new rules making voting by mail harder.
The order immediately drew a lawsuit in early April 2026 from officials in 23 Democratic states, including California and Washington DC, who said the measure was an unconstitutional effort to interfere with states administering their elections.
Trump Mail-in Voting Order
The executive order is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to limit voting by mail. The administration is also using Justice Department lawsuits and FBI investigations in the same effort, according to the facts provided.
That push has already run into court losses. The Justice Department has filed lawsuits seeking sensitive voter data from 30 states, and eight courts have issued rulings in those cases, with the department losing each one.
Trump has tied the election fight to the November midterm elections. At a Republican House retreat in January, he told lawmakers, "You gotta win the midterms, because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be … I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me," Trump told lawmakers.
Eileen O’Connor
Eileen O’Connor, a senior counsel with the Brennan Center and former Justice Department voting section lawyer, said, "The Department of Justice has no authority to sweep up the voter rolls, which contain private information like driver’s licenses and social security numbers, from every state in the nation". She added, "The department has 30 active lawsuits against states and the District of Columbia to force the turnover of these sensitive records. So far, eight courts have issued rulings in these cases, and the DoJ has lost each one."
O’Connor also said, "The administration has targeted election officials, attempted to rewrite election rules, pardoned January 6 rioters, and elevated election deniers." The lawsuit from the 23 states now puts the order on a legal track that will test whether the federal government can force changes to voting rules that states have traditionally administered.
