“Mail-in ballots should face more scrutiny than in-person votes.”

President Trump signed an executive order titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections" on March 31, 2026, directing USPS to bar anyone not on a new federal citizenship list from receiving a mail or absentee ballot, among other verification measures. Two separate court injunctions blocked the order from taking effect — one covering the 23 Democratic-led states and DC that sued, and a broader nationwide injunction. On August 24, 2026, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned emergency order lifting the first injunction, letting the administration begin implementing the order in those 23 states and DC while litigation continues — but this was not a ruling on the order's constitutionality, and the separate nationwide injunction reportedly remains in place. All three liberal justices dissented from the order.

The core tension: does the lack of an in-person identity check justify extra verification steps for mail ballots regardless of how rarely fraud is actually documented, or does treating mail ballots with more suspicion than in-person votes unfairly burden the millions of voters — including many with disabilities — who depend on mail voting specifically because in-person voting is harder for them?

The administration & order supporters — Argue mail ballots lack the in-person identity check poll workers provide, so additional safeguards like citizenship verification and signature review are a reasonable substitute, not an unfair double standard. Senate Democrats — Twenty-four senators wrote to Acting AG Todd Blanche calling the order "another attempt by the President to exceed the constitutional authorities granted to the Executive Branch concerning federal elections." Democratic state attorneys general — NY AG Letitia James, one of two dozen Democratic AGs suing, called it "a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control." Disability rights advocates — Disability Rights California attorney Paul Spencer said signature-matching is "one of the most common issues" his office hears about, since people with disabilities "might be more likely to have an inconsistent signature over time"; AAPD says over 40 million eligible disabled voters often rely on mail voting as their only accessible option. Nonpartisan election researchers — Multiple studies, including Brookings' analysis across 2016–2022, found no evidence mail voting increases fraud risk relative to in-person voting. The 12 Republican-led states backing the order (led by Alabama) — Argue the verification requirements are a modest, reasonable check that should be allowed to proceed while the courts sort out the underlying legal questions, rather than blocked preemptively.