Trump, GOP Pushing Back On Voter Integrity Issues Created By Democrats
As several blue states continue to expand mail-in voting and allow ballots to be counted days or even weeks after Election Day, Republicans are escalating efforts to rein in a practice critics say undermines election integrity and public confidence.
In recent years, many states have begun sending absentee ballots 45 to 60 days before Election Day and permitting ballots received on or after Election Day to be counted well after polls close. In some Democrat-controlled states, absentee ballot counting can continue for as long as three weeks, delaying certification and fueling concerns about shifting vote totals, Just the News reported.
Republicans say the prolonged counting window invites confusion, litigation, and distrust — and they are now taking concrete steps to stop it.
President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order calling for all ballots to be counted on election night, reinforcing the principle that Election Day should once again mean exactly that. At the same time, a legal challenge to Mississippi’s ballot-counting procedures is making its way through the courts and has not yet reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
At the state level, Ohio has become the latest battleground. The Ohio legislature approved a measure requiring all ballots to be received by election night in order to be counted, eliminating the state’s previous four-day grace period.
“It’s common sense that ballots should arrive by Election Day,” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose told Just the News this week, noting that Ohio is now the 35th state to adopt such a requirement.
“I think that trying to reduce complexity should be our goal in government, and certainly when it comes to the rules for how elections run,” LaRose said during an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. “If you were to stop the average person on the street last year and say, what’s the deadline for your ballot to get back to the board of elections, they would not know that it’s four days after. It’s kind of an arbitrary date.”
President Trump’s executive order emphasized that federal law already establishes a single, uniform Election Day for federal elections — and that the law should be enforced as written.
“Federal law establishes a uniform Election Day across the Nation for Federal elections,” Trump’s order stated. “It is the policy of my Administration to enforce those statutes and require that votes be cast and received by the election date established in law.”
Trump also contrasted America’s increasingly chaotic election system with other nations that count ballots quickly and transparently.
“The United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,” the order said. “India and Brazil, for example, are tying voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship.
“In tabulating votes, Germany and Canada require use of paper ballots, counted in public by local officials, which substantially reduces the number of disputes as compared to the American patchwork of voting methods that can lead to basic chain-of-custody problems,” it continued.
“Further, while countries like Denmark and Sweden sensibly limit mail-in voting to those unable to vote in person and do not count late-arriving votes regardless of the date of postmark, many American elections now feature mass voting by mail, with many officials accepting ballots without postmarks or those received well after Election Day.”
The issue is now squarely before the U.S. Supreme Court. In November, the justices agreed to hear a case brought by the Republican National Committee challenging Mississippi’s law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after polls close.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, many states now mail ballots as early as 45 days to two months before Election Day. Roughly a dozen states allow ballots to be counted after Election Day if certain conditions are met.
Washington state permits counting for up to three weeks after Election Day. Illinois allows 14 days, Maryland allows 10, and both California and New York permit ballots to be counted for up to seven days after polls close.
Republicans argue that restoring Election Day deadlines is a necessary step toward transparency, certainty, and trust — principles President Trump has made central to his push for election reform.