President Trump has voted by mail twice this year, a voting method he’s used several times before. Yet, in March, he signed a sweeping, unconstitutional executive order to make it harder for every other American to vote by mail.
Hundreds of millions of ballots have been securely mailed by our Postal Service since the Civil War. In the 2020 general election , the Postal Service securely delivered over 65 million ballots. In 2024, it was nearly 100 million.
So why is President Trump attacking the very method he trusts to cast his own ballot? It’s because he wants to decide who gets to vote in this country.
President Trump continues to undermine our democratic processes and undo years of work to expand access to the ballot box for eligible voters.
Now more than ever, we must work to ensure our elections remain free, fair and secure.
For years, President Trump has insisted, without evidence, that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud. But the facts say otherwise. A nonpartisan analysis from the Brookings Institution found that between 2016 and 2022 there were, on average, only four cases of mail-in ballot fraud for every 10 million votes cast.
And when people do try to vote illegally, our states, including Michigan, have strong mechanisms in place to stop them and hold them accountable.
The Postal Service has now finalized its rule to carry out the President’s order, which will coerce states to hand over absentee voter rolls, impose new ballot standards, and allow the Postal Service to refuse to deliver certain ballots. But the Constitution makes it crystal clear that the President has no unilateral authority to regulate how states conduct their elections. Our founders wanted elections to be decentralized to protect states’ rights and prevent too much consolidation of power.
Despite that simple fact, the Trump Administration is trying to federalize our elections and turn the Postal Service into the President’s own personal election administrator. Furthermore, these dramatic changes to vote-by-mail are also taking place just months before the midterm elections which will only sow chaos and confusion.
And instead of pushing back against these lies, the head of the Postal Service is simply acting as a rubber stamp for the President’s unlawful efforts.
As the Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I'm responsible for conducting oversight of the Postal Service. At a recent hearing earlier this year, I asked Postmaster General David Steiner point blank if the Postal Service would deliver voters’ ballots in states, like Michigan, that refuse to go along with these new illegal requirements.
Postmaster General Steiner's response?
"No."
Thankfully, his response isn’t the final word, and our system of checks and balances can still provide a counterweight. People are fighting back, and legal challenges from states and voting rights groups are ongoing. While the Supreme Court halted one injunction on procedural grounds, they have not ruled on the legality of the President’s order or the Postal Service’s rule. But the Trump Administration is relentless in its pursuit to control who can vote, and the battle to safeguard our elections and protect the right to vote is far from over.
In Congress, I continue to fight back against these illegal actions, and I stand behind Michigan and other states challenging this executive order and the final rule in the courts. We won't stop until the Trump Administration abandons their efforts to carry out this unconstitutional power-grab. In America, voters choose their leaders — not the other way around.
This is a critical moment in our country’s history. Americans must keep making their voices heard. The Postal Service must follow the Constitution, and my Republican colleagues in Congress must stand up to the President and do what’s right to protect our democracy.
Senator Gary Peters, D-MI, has represented the state of Michigan in the United States Senate since 2014.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump's election power grab should alarm every voter
