WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 31, 2026, seeking to restrict mail-in voting and compile a national voter list. The order, Trump's second election-related executive action since retaking office, directs multiple federal agencies to impose new requirements on how mail-in ballots are distributed and processed.

The executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create a national voter list and share it with states. It requires the United States Postal Service to send mail-in ballots only to individuals on that list and directs the Postmaster General to require all mail-in and absentee ballots to be placed in secure ballot envelopes with official markings. The order also directs the Attorney General to withhold federal funds from states and cities that do not comply with its requirements and to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of election officials and others who distribute federal ballots to ineligible voters.

"This will help a lot with elections. We'd like to have voter ID. We'd like to have proof of citizenship, and that'll be another subject for another time," Trump said during the signing ceremony. "That's a big deal." He added: "The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary." Trump also said: "I won three times. I won three times convincingly." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attended the ceremony.

Trump has long attacked voting by mail, describing it as a scam that creates fraud in elections. Despite that criticism, Trump has voted by mail himself, including in a recent special election in Florida. Almost a third of American voters cast ballots by mail in 2024. Mail-voting fraud accounts for 0.000043% of total mail ballots cast, approximately four cases per 10 million votes.

Experts have described the executive order as unconstitutional and unlikely to withstand legal challenges. The U.S. Constitution permits states to set their own rules for elections, and only Congress can enact changes to U.S. policy on federal elections. The Brennan Center for Justice, a legal advocacy organization, said in a statement: "The president has signed an executive order on mail voting. He has no lawful authority to write the rules that govern our elections."

David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the USPS is run by a board of governors and the president has no power to tell it what mail it can and cannot deliver. A spokesperson for the Postal Service said the agency would review the executive order. Trump has separately proposed folding the USPS into the Commerce Department to bring it under presidential control.

Federal courts blocked a March 2025 executive order from Trump that sought to add a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form and require mailed ballots to be received at election offices by election day. The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against election officials in California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania for failing to provide voter registration rolls, alleging their refusal violates federal law.