Election experts: Ending mail-in voting would take much more than an order from Trump

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday described President Donald Trump’s plan to eliminate voting by mail — a method over half a million New Yorkers used last election — as an attempt to "rig the rules" of elections.

The president announced on social media Monday that he is "going to lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots," while describing, without evidence, the bipartisan method of voting as a "scam," "hoax" and that "Democrats are virtually unelectable without" the method.

"Remember, without fair and honest elections, and strong and powerful borders, you don’t have even a semblance of a country," Trump said in all capital letters in a post on Truth Social, which is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group.

The question of whether Trump can find a path toward at least part of his stated policy goal is up for debate, according to election experts.

Voting rights groups said the president, by himself, is unable to change the ways elections are carried out, citing that the Constitution clearly provides that power to Congress.

An act of Congress, the experts said, could potentially alter the way federal elections are carried out, but it would not necessarily have the power to dictate how state officials run their own local elections.

"It is very much outside the scope of his constitutional authority," said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project.

She said that the ACLU is "watching very closely to see what this looks like" and is "prepared to respond to attempts" to dismantle voting by mail.

Trump’s statement sent a clear message to Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a group that advocates for voting rights in the state.

"It’s a scare tactic," Lerner said. "We have a president who is disregarding the Constitution. The rest of us will not disregard the Constitution."

'Got to do something'

While the experts cast severe doubt on whether Trump could make headway on his promise through an executive order, local election attorney John Ciampoli, who typically represents Republicans, said the president should at least attempt the effort.

"I understand what the president is doing, I welcome what he’s doing and somebody’s got to do something," said Ciampoli, who has previously represented Nassau County as its attorney.

Ciampoli views the system as "inane," rife with the potential of fraud, pointing to several cases he’s fought over decades of work in the field. He takes particular issue with the way the laws are currently written, the way the New York courts have interpreted the laws and the extent to which that provides a pathway to challenge any potential fraud.

Hochul, in a statement issued to Newsday, said it’s the president’s "latest attempt to undermine states’ rights and make it harder for Americans to vote."

"Trump knows Republicans can’t win fairly and is trying to rig the rules," Hochul said.

In last year’s presidential election, nearly 6% of voters in New York cast their vote through a no-excuse early voting ballot. In Nassau County, 7% of voters cast their ballot through a no-excuse ballot and in Suffolk County, 5.5%, totaling 92,000 voters, according to a Newsday analysis of election data from the state Board of Elections. When including voters who submitted an absentee ballot, over 165,000 people sent their vote by mail on Long Island in 2024. 

 'What is so sinister?'

Two years ago, Hochul signed legislation to create the clear right for New Yorkers to vote by mail without an excuse — different from by absentee ballot, in which you need a specific reason not to vote in person. The right to vote by mail previously expanded in the state during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Why not?" Hochul said at the September 2023 bill signing on voting by mail without excuse. "What is so sinister? Why would this be attacked? What's the problem with this? What are you afraid of? That's what you have to ask those who are going to try and stop this, and I guarantee there will."

Republicans, led by Rep. Elise Stefanik, sued after Hochul signed the law into effect. One year ago, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state government, saying the legislature is in its right to set the manner in which the election is held.

Chief Judge Rowan Wilson noted in his decision a historical lens to the issue. In 1863, Gov. Horatio Seymour opposed a measure passed by the legislature to allow for Union soldiers to vote absentee, which may have helped Republicans and President Abraham Lincoln.

"It is not clear how much Gov. Seymour’s view (and veto) was based on an analysis of the Constitution," Wilson wrote in a footnote, "and how much was based on political motivations."