He made the announcement on Truth Social, calling it a step to restore election integrity.
“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!! Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military. USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!” Trump wrote.
This is Trump’s second attempt to impose voter ID by executive order. In April, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly struck down parts of an earlier order that required voter identification.
She ruled that the Constitution gives Congress and the states authority to regulate elections, not the president. Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, said Trump had exceeded his powers, writing that “no statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
Despite that setback, Trump is pressing forward.
He also pledged to end mail-in voting except for military members serving abroad and those too ill to reach the polls. That position directly challenges the current system, where every state allows some form of mail-in voting. Several states, including California, Colorado, and Washington, conduct elections almost entirely by mail.
Trump has made election security a centerpiece of his presidency.
Earlier this year, he signed an order that instructed the U.S. Attorney General to ensure mail-in ballots were only counted up until Election Day. That order, like the voter ID mandate, has faced a wave of legal challenges and remains tied up in the courts.
Critics, including voting rights group Democracy Docket, argue that Trump’s latest push is unconstitutional. They point to the Constitution, which gives states the authority to oversee elections and allows Congress to step in by passing laws. “A presidential order to end mail-in voting would be blatantly unconstitutional,” the group said.
Trump has brushed aside those objections, insisting states act as agents for the federal government when counting ballots. “They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do,” he posted.
Republicans have largely backed Trump’s efforts, with some lawmakers even looking to codify portions of his March executive order into law. Support among voters also remains high.
A Gallup poll taken just before the 2024 election found that 84% of Americans supported requiring voter ID, with strong backing across party lines—67% of Democrats, 84% of Independents, and 98% of Republicans in favor. The poll also showed that more than eight in ten Americans support requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
As Trump prepares to act again through executive order, the battle over voter ID and mail-in ballots is shaping up as one of the defining fights heading into the 2026 midterms.