President Trump is warning of widespread cheating in mail-in voting even as he tells supporters to vote early, by mail, or in person so the midterm result is too big to rig.
Standing on the White House South Lawn on Monday before boarding Marine One for a Nebraska rally, President Donald Trump told reporters he prefers in-person voting but will not block mail ballots. He said the country has little choice under current rules while insisting fraud remains a real problem in the system.
The comments come weeks before the November midterms that will decide control of Congress and shape the final two years of his term. Trump is pressing Republicans to turn out by every legal method while keeping pressure on election offices he views as sloppy or worse.
Trump put the choice in plain terms during the gaggle. ABC News recorded him saying voters should use whatever option works.
"No, vote by mail or vote in person. I'd rather have a vote in person. But they can vote by mail if they want, because we seem to have no choice."
He followed that with a direct charge about the mail system itself.
"What we're concerned about is there seems to be a lot of- not seems to be, there is a lot of cheating in vote by mail."
That dual message tracks the video he posted on social media on October 3. In it he told supporters to vote early, by mail, or on Election Day, November 3, to beat the radical left and produce a midterm win too large to manipulate.
"Vote early, vote by mail or vote in person on Election Day, November 3rd, so we can defeat the radical left Dumocrats in a midterm victory that is too big to rig."
Trump has used mail ballots himself. He voted by mail twice in Florida elections this year, including the recent primary, and voted early in the 2024 Florida Republican primary.
The same Monday, Trump met at the White House with Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk. Sources confirmed the meeting. Peters was convicted on state charges tied to a plan to access Colorado voting systems while she searched for proof of 2020 fraud. She received a lengthy prison term.
Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis granted her clemency earlier this year after repeated calls from Trump. Peters left prison in June. Trump has long cast her as someone punished for demanding clean elections, a theme that fits broader election integrity legal efforts now underway ahead of the midterms and 2028.
Fox News reported that Trump announced a full pardon for Peters, praising her as a patriot who simply wanted fair and honest elections and blasting Democrats for targeting her over 2020 claims.
"Today I am granting Tina a full pardon for her attempts to expose voter fraud in the rigged 2020 presidential election!"
Colorado officials have noted that a presidential pardon does not erase state convictions, yet the gesture and the White House meeting signal continued focus on people who challenged voting systems.
Trump also trained fire on Maricopa County, Arizona. He said the county had just mailed thousands of ballots in error and should be ashamed. He went further, calling Maricopa a very dishonest county and insisting there were no real mistakes.
"So Maricopa just sent out thousands of ballots in error. Maricopa County in Arizona. And they have to be ashamed of themselves."
County officials said Sunday that a contractor accidentally mailed 3,126 early ballots six days before the planned drop date. After consulting the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, the Recorder's Office determined the ballots remain valid and do not need to be voided or reissued. Officials added that no voters were harmed.
Trump rejected that account on the spot. The episode fits a longer pattern of friction with large urban election offices that handle massive mail volumes. Similar concerns have driven other recent cases, including a Mexican national charged with illegal voting in a 2024 federal race.
Trump also pointed reporters toward California elections. Back in June, Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office answered earlier accusations by saying Trump was lying about the state again. The back-and-forth shows how mail-ballot disputes now travel from county offices straight into national politics.
Last month the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to force new U.S. Postal Service rules on mail ballots into effect for November. The justices rejected the bid. States are therefore free to keep mailing ballots on their existing schedules.
That ruling leaves the practical reality Trump described on the South Lawn: mail voting is widespread, so Republicans must use it while the administration keeps pushing for tighter safeguards. The Justice Department is separately preparing large numbers of poll monitors for the midterms as part of an integrity push, a step detailed in coverage of how the DOJ readies 1,000 poll monitors for November.
Attorney General claims about armed federal monitors have already drawn sharp pushback, with officials rejecting those rumors as false in recent statements on the same topic. At the same time, federal prosecutors continue bringing cases against non-citizens who cast illegal ballots, including an Indian national indicted in Minnesota for falsely claiming citizenship to vote in 2024.
Trump signed an executive order during his stop at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska, then tossed the pen into the crowd. The order's full text was not detailed in the same reporting, yet the rally itself kept the midterm turnout message front and center.
The pattern is consistent. Trump wants maximum lawful participation from his voters. He also refuses to pretend mail-in systems are airtight. County errors, rejected postal-rule changes, and past convictions of officials who tested election equipment all feed the same demand: count every legal ballot and stop the rest.
Voters who want secure elections should expect both high turnout and honest rules. Trump is driving that point home before November 3.