Republicans in three swing states are pushing mail-in voting despite President Donald Trump openly trashing the method, reports Politico.
Trump has called mail-in ballots "corrupt" and part of a "hoax" and claims the process leads to massive fraud.
He's talked about leading a movement to eliminate mail-in voting and signing an executive order to end mail-in ballots and even certain voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The Republican National Committee plans to build on the aggressive early mail and in-person voting operation that proved effective in 2024, according to a person granted anonymity to describe the committee's plans.
In Wisconsin, the state party is rolling out a full-scale blitz to boost mail ballot sign-ups.
The Monroe County GOP in Michigan on social media has pressed voters to utilize permanent absentee ballots.
Republicans in Pennsylvania spent $16 million to boost the number of GOP voters using mail ballots in 2024, and state party chair Greg Rothman told Politico, "We have to encourage people to embrace mail-in voting and early voting."
"That has to be a priority for us in 2026," he added.
Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming told Politico that Democrats "have built a pretty massive structural advantage in early voting for a long, long time. And we just can't keep going into election night 100,000 votes down and expect to make it up in 12 hours."
"Treating early voting as optional, or something Democrats do, is a losing gamble," said Schimming.
Jim Runestad, a state senator who chairs the Michigan Republican Party, said, "We'll be fully engaged in early and absentee voting — we have to be."
"In Michigan, that's the law of the land unless we can find a U.S. constitutional override, which I doubt that's going to happen," he told Politico.
Across the U.S., many states are proposing or passing laws that tighten rules around mail-in voting or ballot access, although very few are outright banning it, and changes often appear as part of broader voting restrictions.
In 2025 alone, dozens of states considered hundreds of bills that would restrict aspects of mail voting, and some laws have already passed in about 10 states that limit mail-in voting procedures.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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