Op-Ed: J. Christian Adams: President Trump is right to target mail voting, but there’s a better way to fix it
J. Christian Adams lays out how President Trump can tackle problems with mail-in voting.
President Donald Trump recently acknowledged an important reality: mail-in ballots and insecure election systems must be reined in.
The president recently remarked that “you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots” and pledged to eliminate mass mail voting and unreliable machines.
President Trump is right to focus on the threat posed by mail-in ballots to American elections and there are constitutionally sound ways to secure the vote.
For years, PILF has sounded the alarm about the vulnerabilities of mail-in ballots. Our research shows what happens when the system goes unchecked. In the 2020 election alone, nearly 15 million ballots went missing. That’s more votes than the entire state of Florida cast in the 2024 election.
Another 560,000 were rejected outright by election officials. That’s nearly 16 million Americans who didn’t get a say in 2020.
PILF’s investigators have seen firsthand the issues these policies reinforce on the ground.
In Nevada, we documented ballots finding their way to casinos, bars, and vacant lots. States like Nevada, California, and Oregon have automatic mail-outs with no ballot request required. That policy creates a huge vulnerability when combined with poorly maintained voter rolls.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to put the mail-in voting genie back in the bottle. Calling for a federal ban on all mail ballots is not a viable solution as the states rightfully control those types of decisions. Thus, America must search for solutions that make mail-in voting as secure as possible.
For starters, federal grants involving Help American Vote Act funds could be tied to standing down mail voting. If you want federal dollars to run elections, stop using mail voting.
The best strategy is to tighten the rules and enforce the safeguards around mail voting.
For example, mail-in ballots must be by request only. No more automatic mail-outs. If a voter wants a ballot, they need to personally request it and verify their identity.
Mail ballots can be tied to identity verification, as some states implemented after 2020. Just as a voter must prove their identity when they physically vote at the polls, voters can provide identifying information like a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number when requesting or returning a mail ballot.
Additionally, ballots must arrive by Election Day. Some states accept ballots as late as 14 days after Election Day has come and gone. That leads to chaos when the results of an election are in flux. Remember 2000’s Bush v. Gore? Accepting ballots after Election Day prolongs uncertainty.
Finally, and most importantly, states need to maintain accurate voter rolls. You can’t run a clean mail system on dirty rolls. States must be vigilant and keep their lists current or every mail-out becomes a risk.
These are common-sense policies that can be instituted today in every state. We should know, as PILF has been out on the front lines achieving them. We’ve been litigating and documenting the dangers of mail voting for years while others are just waking up them.
President Trump’s focus on this issue is encouraging. It shows that the fight for secure elections is finally being acknowledged from the top. To fully protect American elections, states should eliminate automatic mail voting, keep rolls clean, and move away from what was a bad idea in the first place.
That’s the work we are committed to. We’ll continue exposing states’ failures, backing states that want stronger laws, and giving lawmakers the evidence they need to act.
Mail-in voting is likely not going away any time soon. But with the right safeguards, we can make sure it doesn’t become the weak link in American elections.
PILF has been at this longer than anyone. We’ll be here tomorrow, next year, and the year after to lead the fight for election integrity and show the path forward.
President Trump is right to demand better elections. But the work needs to be done at the state-by-state level.
J. Christian Adams is the President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm.