How Trump falsely claims US is the ‘only country’ that uses mail-in voting

United States President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks against mail-in voting, which helium claims was rigged successful the 2020 elections, and has pledged to get escaped of the postal voting system.

“We are present the lone state successful the satellite that uses mail-in voting,” helium posted connected his Truth Social level connected Monday.

His station echoed grievances astir mail-in voting helium had aired days earlier successful an interrogation with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.  After gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin connected Friday successful Alaska, Trump told Hannity that Putin said the 2020 US statesmanlike predetermination was “rigged” due to the fact that of mail-in voting. It wasn’t. Trump mislaid that election. Officials successful his ain administration told him that.

Hours aft his post, Trump somewhat softened his connection during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“And bash you cognize that we’re the lone state successful the satellite – I believe, I whitethorn beryllium incorrect – but conscionable astir the lone state successful the satellite that uses [mail-in voting]. Because of what’s happened, monolithic fraud each implicit the place,” Trump said.

Mail-in voting provides much opportunities for fraud than in-person voting, researchers said, but it’s inactive rare, and predetermination officials person safeguards successful place.

Trump said during Monday’s remarks astatine the White House that his medication is preparing an enforcement bid “to extremity mail-in ballots due to the fact that they’re corrupt”.

We asked the White House for grounds to enactment Trump’s connection astir different countries and received nary response.

Data compiled by a Sweden-based organisation that advocates for ideology globally recovered successful an October study that 34 countries oregon territories let mail-in voting, which it refers to arsenic “postal voting”.

Dozens of countries let astatine slightest immoderate mail-in voting

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance recovered that of those 34 countries oregon territories, 12 let each voters to ballot by message and 22 licence lone immoderate voters to ballot this way.

“Europe has the largest fig of countries that marque in-country postal voting disposable to each oregon immoderate voters,” the study said.

No 2 countries person precisely the aforesaid postal voting system, said Annika Silva-Leander, the organisation’s North America head.

Silva-Leander noted immoderate differences:

• Ballot tracking: Ballot tracking allows voters and predetermination officials to way ballots passim the voting process to trim fraud. Although that is communal successful the US, galore countries don’t person it.
• Different authorities systems: Many countries person the aforesaid postal voting strategy for the full nation. In the US, the strategy differs from authorities to state. The bulk of states let voting by mail, including chiefly Republican-voting, Democratic-voting and battleground states.
• Mailing ballots to each voters is unusual: In astir countries, postal voting supplements voting astatine polling stations, but immoderate US states, specified arsenic Washington, trust mostly connected postal voting.
• Ballot curing: This is simply a US process that allows voters to hole a problem, specified arsenic forgetting to motion the envelope, aft casting their ballots. This process is not disposable successful astir countries.

The US has had voting by message since its 1861-1865 Civil War. Voting by message besides has a agelong past crossed the globe.

Australia introduced postal voting much than a period ago, Graeme Orr, an adept connected planetary electoral instrumentality astatine the University of Queensland successful Australia, previously told PolitiFact.

All Canadians are eligible to usage mail-in voting, said York University Associate Professor Cary Wu, who cowrote a 2024 insubstantial astir the effect of Trump’s antimail-voting messaging connected Canadians’ views of postal voting.

“Voting by message has agelong been a captious constituent of the antiauthoritarian process successful Canada,” Wu said.

Although the enactment of submitting a ballot by message was extended to each Canadian voters successful 1993, it was not commonly utilized successful wide elections earlier the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the United Kingdom, on-demand postal voting was portion of a wider modernisation successful electoral medication successful the aboriginal 2000s, according to a 2021 insubstantial by UK researchers. Postal voting’s enlargement was driven mostly by a tendency to summation turnout. Using information from the 2019 British Election Study, researchers recovered older voters and radical with disabilities were much apt to opt for postal voting’s convenience.

Election workers hole and benignant postal votes earlier the commencement of the ballot count, during the wide predetermination successful Munich, Germany connected February 23, 2025. [Gintare Karpaviciute/Reuters]

US states acceptable mail-in voting laws

In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “The States are simply an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government successful counting and tabulating the votes” and indispensable bash what the president tells them.

Election instrumentality Professor Rick Hasen astatine the University of California astatine Los Angeles wrote connected his blog that Trump’s connection is “wrong and dangerous”.

“The Constitution does not springiness the President immoderate power implicit national elections,” Hasen wrote, adding that national courts person recognised those limits.

The US Constitution’s Article 1, Section 4 says the regularisation of elections is simply a powerfulness of the states.

“The president plays virtually nary relation successful elections, and that’s by plan of the founders,” said David Becker, enforcement manager of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research.

Despite often criticising voting by mail, Trump himself occasionally formed a mail-in ballot, and successful 2024, Trump invited Republicans to formed mail-in ballots.

We asked the White House for details astir the forthcoming enforcement bid helium described, including whether it seeks to wholly prohibition mail-in voting. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields did not code that question but said Trump wants to necessitate elector IDs and forestall “cheating done lax and incompetent voting laws successful states similar California and New York.”

There is nary grounds of wide cheating successful California and New York, 2 of the astir populous states that consistently ballot for Democrats for president. Most states necessitate elector IDs though the rules vary.

Our ruling

Trump didn’t explicate his grounds and hours aboriginal softened his connection erstwhile helium said helium “may beryllium wrong”.

In 2024, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance recovered that 34 countries oregon territories let postal voting. For example, Australia has had mail-in voting for a century, and each Canadians are eligible to ballot by mail.

We complaint this connection false.