President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony for an executive order on mail ballots,in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026. REUTERS Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday morning to urge his supporters to start turning in their mail-in ballots and absentee ballots, and to go vote early. It's a surprising move, given how many years Trump has spent railing against early votes and mail-in ballots as a major source of voter fraud.
"FLORIDA!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Early Voting, in-person, is UNDERWAY NOW in the Great State of Florida. If you have a mail-in ballot, return it immediately and, if not, GO VOTE at the Polls RIGHT NOW, and get everyone you know to VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN IN EVERY RACE, UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT!"
He posted the same message for Michigan. "Early Voting, in-person, is UNDERWAY NOW in the Great State of Michigan. If you have a mail-in ballot, return it immediately and, if not, GO VOTE at the Polls RIGHT NOW, and get everyone you know to VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN IN EVERY RACE, UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT!"
It's a surprising shift from the president who has spent years opposing mail-in ballots.
"RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!” Trump posted on June 22, 2020.
“Take a look at West Virginia—mailmen selling the ballots. They’re being sold," Trump alleged on Sept. 29, 2020, during the presidential debate.
“Mail ballots, they cheat,” Trump also said, adding that it was already being "rigged."
“As far as the ballots are concerned, it’s a disaster," he falsely claimed.
The investigation in West Virginia revealed that the mailman changed ballots from Democratic to Republican votes. He was prosecuted for it.
"They're losing 30 and 40 percent. It's a fraud. It's a fraud and it's a shame," Trump also claimed in that same debate.
On August 18, 2020, Trump alleged ballots were “sent to people that are dead, sent to dogs, cats, sent to everyone.”
That year, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) joked about her beloved dog Bailey voting. Republicans lost it, taking the joke seriously and saying that Warren was committing voter fraud. The reality, Elaine C. Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said, is that after studying that specifically, it's not a reality.
A report of a cat receiving a voter registration application is not the same as a cat receiving a ballot. For the latter to occur, the human owner would have to fill out the registration, apply for a mail-in ballot, and then vote for the cat. The owner would be committing voter fraud and would likely end up in jail.