President Trump signs order asserting federal control over mail-in voting
President Donald Trump has moved to assert federal control over mail-in voting with an executive order.
President Donald Trump is calling for a federal investigation into Maryland’s mail-in voting mix-up, as he again slams the state’s Democratic governor and takes aim at a voting format he frequently criticizes.
The Maryland State Board of Elections announced last week that some voters received mail-in ballots from the wrong party ahead of the June 23 primary election. All ballots have been replaced as a result of a vendor error. More than 500,000 Maryland voters have requested mail-in ballots.
In a May 18 social media post, President Trump said he was asking Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to “immediately begin an investigation into this situation.” He used the incident to continue his long-standing criticism of mail-in voting and raise unsubstantiated claims about Maryland elections and Gov. Wes Moore.
“Many of these ballots went to Democrats, so Republicans running in Maryland have no chance!” Trump wrote. “This was done by corrupt Governor Wes Moore. He allowed this to happen to ensure the Democratic Party won.”
The governor’s press secretary, Amal Musa, called Trump’s statements “false and irresponsible.”
“The State Board of Elections has identified the vendor’s error, made it public, and is correcting it to ensure all voters receive valid ballots and all valid votes are counted,” Moosa added.
President Trump continued to express concerns about the Maryland election and mail-in voting in general during a May 18 White House event, saying, “By its very nature, mail-in voting is going to be corrupt.”
The president questioned whether original mail-in ballots sent by Maryland could “infect” the votes, even though state officials claimed they had resolved the issue in a way that preserved the integrity of the votes.
Maryland’s top elections official, Jared DeMarinis, said on social media on May 17 that the president was trying to “mislead, sow distrust and create misinformation.”
DeMarinis responded to President Trump’s May 16 social media post about the Maryland election, adding, “The steps taken to reissue ballots eliminate any doubts about the integrity or accuracy of mail-in ballots.”
President Trump, who used mail-in voting to cast his own votes this year, has sought to crack down on it, recently signing an executive order asserting more federal control over such voting. The order is an escalation of the president’s efforts to impose new restrictions on voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, which are being challenged in court.
Moore, the nation’s only black governor and a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has been a target of President Trump in recent months. The president blamed him for the massive sewage spill and removed him from the historically bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House.
Contributor: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
