{"id":50052,"date":"2026-09-08T11:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=50052"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:59:19","slug":"trumps-war-on-mail-in-voting-is-hitting-a-brick-wall-but-the-danger-is-far-from-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/trumps-war-on-mail-in-voting-is-hitting-a-brick-wall-but-the-danger-is-far-from-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s War on Mail-in Voting is Hitting a Brick Wall\u2014But the Danger is Far From Over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"North<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections on September 17, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Allison Joyce\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing Trump\u2019s mail-in voting restrictions to take effect \u201cwould be a break-glass moment for our democracy,\u201d said one critic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s crusade against mail-in voting is running into a brick wall, although many critics are warning that the dangers to democracy<\/a> are far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Post<\/a> reported<\/a> on Sunday that Trump is \u201crunning out of options\u201d to change mail-in voting rules that \u201cdon\u2019t involve significant upheaval,\u201d as states have already started sending out ballots to voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Georgia<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Democrats, Groups Fight Back After Supreme Court Clears Way for Trump Attack on Mail Voting<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Absentee<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Direct Violation of the Constitution\u2019: Democratic States Sue to Stop Trump Assault on Mail-In Voting<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March, Trump signed an executive order that instructed the United States<\/a> Postal Service to not deliver ballots in any states that have not given the federal government access to its voter lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that order is currently tied up in court, and both Wisconsin<\/a> and North Carolina last week began mailing out ballots to voters, the Post reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Millis, a Republican who chairs the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told the Post that \u201cthere\u2019s no practical way for Wisconsin clerks to comply\u201d with Trump\u2019s orders, adding that the president\u2019s schemes targeting mail-in voting are likely to \u201churt the Republican turnout more than the Democratic turnout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration<\/a> has been pushing the US Supreme Court<\/a> to intervene to allow the president\u2019s executive order to take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as noted in a Politico report<\/a> published on Friday, nine other states are set to send ballots to voters over the next two weeks, which would make a last-minute ruling by the court an unprecedented disruption in the democratic process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect,\u201d Ben Hovland, senior fellow for democracy at the Center for American Progress, told Politico. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to even imagine… It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Hovland said that Trump\u2019s election meddling effort could still do real damage to the country because it can \u201cdissuade people from participating or coming out to vote\u201d and \u201cestablish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hovland\u2019s concerns about the president\u2019s intentions were echoed in a Sunday report<\/a> in The New York Times<\/a>, which found voters across the country expressing confusion about the voting process and anxiety over whether their votes will be counted this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pima County, Arizona Recorder Gabriella C\u00e1zares-Kelly told the Times that her office has received a flood of calls from worried voters, and she said that the president\u2019s relentless push to restrict voting by mail has left her unable to provide reassuring answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish that I could tell my constituents to not worry,\u201d said C\u00e1zares-Kelly, \u201cand I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rich Cooper, elections manager in Clark County, Washington<\/a>, similarly told the Times he has been unable to ease voters\u2019 worries about what rules will govern this year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest thing they want to know is if things are going to change,\u201d Cooper said of voters expressing concerns. \u201cWe have to tell them we just don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections on September 17, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. \u00a0(Photo by Allison Joyce\/Getty Images) Allowing Trump\u2019s mail-in voting restrictions to take effect \u201cwould be a break-glass moment for our democracy,\u201d said one critic. Brad Reed Sep 06,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2088],"tags":[2431],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50053,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052\/revisions\/50053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}