Kevin’s Journal: Why Is Trump Against Mail-in Voting?

Over the summer there has been a lot of news that captured our media’s attention, but today I will go over mail-in voting and how our government’s attacks on mail-in voting compromise the populations who need it the most. These populations include elderly citizens, their caregivers, and disabled and medically compromised individuals.

These populations require resources like mail-in voting in order to be safe and healthy. Denying them their right to mail-in voting is asking them to decide between their safety and their right to vote. Nick Papadopoulos said to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “As someone with cerebral palsy, voting in person is a  difficult process. But participating in elections allows me to be part of my community, to express my identity as a human being, and feel whole.”

Papadopoulos continued, “That’s why I rely on voting by mail. It is my lifeline to make my voice heard, express satisfaction or dissent, and remain part of a system that too often overlooks people like me.” Reading stories like that of Papadopoulos reminds us that while some services may seem unimportant and mundane, they truly matter and affect people’s way of life.

While mail-in voting has picked up in popularity over the past decade, it started during the Civil War, when soldiers on both sides of the war could vote from the battlefield and have their votes counted towards their home states. According to a press release administered by Congress.gov, in the 1800s, absentee ballots were allowed for those who were away from home and who were seriously ill. In the 1980s, California became the first state to allow absentee ballots for any citizens who requested them.

During the 2020 and 2024 elections, these mail-in ballots increased by a large margin due to their convenience and the COVID-19 pandemic. When these trends started to pick up, President Donald Trump attacked this system and made many misleading statements about who was voting in the elections of 2020 and 2024 (the latter of which he won). In 2020 he stated that undocumented immigrants and people who were deceased voted.

During the 2020 election, there were many states that were close, but Georgia was one of the most contested, with Joe Biden winning with a little under 11,800 votes. When this happened, Trump called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, asking him to find him more votes, but Raffensperger declined to do so. This call was made public during the multiple lawsuits that Trump made in order to overturn the 2020 election.

In 2024, 31% of voters still used mail-in voting as their primary way of voting. That is over 48 million voters nationwide. From a multicultural and empathetic worldview, you might view this as indicative of the public’s preference and trust in mail-in voting in 2020 as voters continued to use this system. This is not how Trump sees it. He has filed multiple lawsuits in order to stop mail-in voting and has even appealed to the Supreme Court but was denied a hearing.

We are in a very divided time as a country, and we should not make doing our simple civic duties like voting harder for people in at-risk populations. By banning mail-in voting, that is what we would be doing. The next time you go to vote, please think of the person who needs to vote from the safety of their home and how your choice could affect their life, as well as yours.