In a recent post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump made a bold assertion regarding mail-in voting, claiming, “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting.”
This statement echoes his long-standing criticisms of mail-in voting, a topic he also discussed during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity days earlier.
During that interview, Trump mentioned his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said indicated that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was “rigged” due to mail-in voting. This claim has been widely debunked, as Trump lost that election, a fact emphasized by individuals within his own administration.
After posting on Truth Social, Trump adjusted his wording slightly at a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He stated, “And do you know that we’re the only country in the world — I believe, I may be wrong — but just about the only country in the world that uses (mail-in voting) because of what’s happened, massive fraud all over the place.”
While researchers acknowledge that mail-in voting presents more opportunities for fraud compared to in-person voting, incidents of such fraud are still extremely rare, and election officials have established safeguards to prevent it.
In response to his own claims, Trump also mentioned during his remarks that his administration was preparing an executive order “to end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt.”
When inquiry was made to the White House for evidence supporting Trump’s assertion about mail-in voting in other countries, no response was provided.
However, research compiled by a Sweden-based organization dedicated to promoting democracy revealed that in an October 2024 report, 34 countries or territories actually allow mail-in voting, referred to as “postal voting.”
This comprehensive report by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance found that out of those 34 countries and territories, 12 allow all voters to cast their ballots by mail, while 22 permit this option for select voters only.
The report noted that Europe has the highest number of countries offering some form of postal voting to their citizens.
It’s important to highlight that no two countries have identical postal voting systems. Annika Silva-Leander, the North America head of the organization, noted key differences between mail-in voting systems in various countries.
For instance, many countries employ uniform postal voting systems for their entire nation, while the U.S. exhibits a patchwork of regulations that differ from state to state.
Currently, most states in the U.S., encompassing both Republican and Democratic strongholds, permit voting by mail, with some states, such as Washington, highly reliant on it.
Additionally, Silva-Leander pointed out that although ballot tracking is common in the U.S., many other countries do not offer this feature, which enables voters and election officials to monitor ballots throughout the voting process.
There are also systems in place in the U.S. known as ballot curing, allowing voters to rectify issues, such as forgetting to sign their envelope after submitting their ballot. This process is rarely found in other countries.
Voting by mail has a historical presence in the United States, having been utilized since the Civil War. Furthermore, this voting method has been a vital component in many democracies worldwide.
Australia, for instance, implemented postal voting over a century ago, as noted by Graeme Orr, an expert in international electoral law at the University of Queensland.
In Canada, all citizens are eligible to vote by mail, according to Cary Wu, an associate professor at York University who co-authored a 2024 study on the implications of Trump’s rhetoric against mail voting on Canadian perspectives.
Wu pointed out that mail-in voting has been an integral part of Canada’s democratic process. Although all Canadian voters were eligible to vote by mail starting in 1993, it gained significant popularity during general elections only after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the United Kingdom, on-demand postal voting became part of broader electoral administrative reforms in the early 2000s, driven largely by efforts to increase voter turnout.
Research from the 2019 British Election Study showed that the convenience of postal voting was particularly beneficial for older voters and individuals with disabilities.
Returning to Trump’s Truth Social post, he implied that states merely serve as “agents” of the federal government in counting votes and suggested that they must take direction from the president.
UCLA election law professor Rick Hasen criticized Trump’s comments as both incorrect and dangerous.
Hasen emphasized that the Constitution does not grant the President authority over federal elections, an assertion supported by federal court rulings.
According to Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution, the regulation of elections falls under the jurisdiction of the states.
David Becker, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research, reiterated that the President has no role in elections — a structure deliberately designed by the Founding Fathers.
Despite his verbal opposition to mail-in voting, it’s noteworthy that Trump has utilized mail ballots on occasion and even encouraged Republicans to participate in mail voting for the upcoming 2024 elections.
When approached for specifics regarding the anticipated executive order he mentioned, including whether it aimed to entirely ban mail-in voting, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields did not directly answer the query.
Instead, he indicated that Trump aims to enforce voter ID requirements and combat “cheating through lax and incompetent voting laws in states like California and New York.”
However, it’s crucial to note that there is no evidence pointing to widespread voter fraud in California or New York, two populous states that consistently support Democratic presidential candidates.
While most states have implemented some form of voter ID, varying regulations exist across states.
Given the evidence that counters Trump’s claims about mail-in voting, we can conclude that his declaration that the U.S. is the only country utilizing mail-in voting is categorically false.
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