Most Americans Oppose Trump's Plan To Ban Mail-In Voting

Most voters support submitting ballots by mail, and also voter ID.

President Donald Trump has long complained about the way Americans vote. He thinks it's too easy to cast a ballot without proving your identity, and it bothers him that people can vote by mail without visiting a polling place. On the first point, he has a winning issue. Americans overwhelmingly agree that no ballots should be cast until voters show ID. But when it comes to mail-in ballots, he's up against public opinion since most people really like the opportunity to vote remotely.

No Real Democracy With Mail-In Ballots?

"You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots," Trump commented last week in response to a reporter's question. "And we, as the Republican Party, are going to do everything possible to get rid of mail-in ballots. We're going to start with an executive order that's being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail-in ballots because they're corrupt. 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 them."

Whatever the flaws, real or imagined, of voting by mail, Trump is wrong in his claim that the U.S. stands alone in permitting the practice. Around the world, a dozen countries permit all voters to mail their ballots according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. These countries include Canada, Germany, Greece, and New Zealand. Another 20 countries—including Australia, France, the Netherlands, and Spain—allow some people to vote through the mail if they're traveling, incapacitated, imprisoned, or otherwise unable to get to a polling station.

Voting by Mail Is Very Popular

All this is to say that dropping a ballot in a mailbox has a fair bit of popularity beyond the borders of the United States. It's also very well-liked within the country. In Arizona, where I live, almost 90 percent of votes are cast early, the vast majority of them by mail. In eight states—California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington—mail-in voting is the default means of holding elections (Utah will require voters to request postal ballots rather than automatically receive them starting in 2029).

"All 50 states allow some form of absentee/mail-in voting. Fourteen states require voters to provide an excuse to vote by mail. The other 36 states do not require an excuse," reports Ballotpedia.

According to recent polling by Pew Research, "a 58% majority of Americans favor allowing any voter to cast their ballot by mail if they want to." As with so many matters these days, there's a partisan divide on the issue. "Today, 83% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents support no-excuse voting by mail, while 68% of Republicans and Republican leaners oppose it."

That is, Republicans agree with the president that mail-in voting should go, but they're overwhelmed by everybody else, who want to keep the practice.

Last year, an almost identical 60 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll favored "sending absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters prior to an election."

Undoubtedly, convenience plays an important role. It's far easier to get a ballot filled out when you have the time and then drop it off than it is to carve out a piece of the day to get to the polling station and work through a lengthy list of candidates and propositions. Last year, in eight of Arizona's 15 counties, ballots extended for two double-sided pages, printed on 17-inch-long paper. If you're going to need to trudge your way through something that looks like an SAT answer form, a little extra leeway to do the chore at your kitchen table can be a blessing.

The President Can't Just Ban Mail-In Voting

Fortunately for those Americans who've become accustomed to choosing their preferred control freaks and bad policies from the comfort of home, it's highly unlikely Trump can achieve what he wants through executive order.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen writes that there is "nothing wrong or illegal about" Trump's plan to advocate against mail-in voting and "there can be a debate about these things."

"But part of the post says that Trump is going to sign an executive order purporting to direct how the midterm elections will be run, on the theory that states are merely an 'agent' of the federal government in counting and tabulating the votes," he added. "This is wrong and dangerous. The Constitution does not give the President any control over federal elections."

"He said he was going to lead a movement in order to accomplish this, and he can certainly do that," agrees Northeastern University law professor Jeremy Paul. "But what he can't do is just sign an executive order and eliminate mail-in ballots."

Legislative action would be required to eliminate mail-in voting across the United States. That could be done at the state level or, possibly, by Congress at the federal level.

Paul sees little chance that Congress will ban mail-in voting, given the popularity of the practice. Hasen points out that, even if federal lawmakers act, that wouldn't affect state and local elections since Congress only has authority over federal contests under Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution.

The president can push his allies to change the law at the state level, but even solidly Republican Utah only made people ask for mail-in ballots rather than receive them by default. Remember, most people like voting this way.

Voter ID Has Even Higher Support

Where Trump has much more support is on the issue of voter ID. The Pew survey that found high support for mail-in voting revealed even greater support (83 percent) for "requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote." That was right in line with last year's Gallup poll in which 84 percent of respondents favored "requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their voting place in order to vote." Pew also found 84 percent support for "requiring electronic voting machines to print a paper backup of the ballot." That indicates some public sympathy for the president's suspicions about the voting process.

But when it comes to banning the practice of filling out ballots at home and dropping them in the mailbox, Trump stands in relatively isolated company. Americans may have voted for the current White House resident and his supporters, but they don't want to wait in line at a polling station to do so.