President Donald Trump's mail-in voting push would not merely inject chaos and uncertainty into the midterms, one D.C. and former GOP insider warned for MS NOW, it would also fundamentally "destabilize" the future of elections and the constitutional order in the U.S.
Michael Steele previously served as the head of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, and has since emerged as one of the more outspoken conservative opponents of Trump and his MAGA agenda. He works as a political analyst and occasional guest host for MS NOW, and frequently publishes op-ed columns for the outlet warning of the damage the president is inflicting on the country.
In his latest piece, published Saturday morning, Steele touched on Trump's desperate legal battle to allow his plans to limit mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterms via executive order. The order remains gridlocked by rulings from lower courts, though the Supreme Court last month ruled that a specific lawsuit seeking to combat the changes was invalid because it was filed too soon. Now, with his initial plan uncertain, Steele wrote that he has resorted to a "secretive and rushed effort to use the U.S. Postal Service to disrupt mail voting on the eve of the midterms."
"Trump’s proposal to have postal workers determine who may receive a mail ballot would be wrongheaded at any time," Steele explained. "Under the Constitution, voter-roll decisions are made by state and local officials, subject to rules set by Congress. The president has no role in making them. But trying to impose this system after some states have already sent ballots to voters is more than a misguided policy proposal. It would turn routine election administration into chaos, destabilizing the midterms and undermining voter confidence."
Steele argued further that, no matter what any one person thinks about mail-in voting, on a fundamental level, "the Constitution did not place the administration of American elections in the hands of the president." Instead, it explicitly grants state governments the authority to regulate the "Times, Places and Manner," and gives Congress the "power to make or alter those rules."
"That division of authority was deliberate," Steele added. "The framers understood the danger of allowing those in power to set the rules that determine whether they remain there."
Steele concluded his piece with a dire warning about this fight that Trump has undertaken, arguing that it would he massive ramifications for the country's future if he is successful.
"The stakes are more than the future of mail voting. Our very democracy is at risk," he wrote. "Democracy depends on the constitutional architecture that supports fair elections, from the separation of powers to the independence of state and local officials. That is where the present danger becomes larger than Trump."
