President Trump has demanded that the GOP-controlled Senate vote to end most mail-in voting. One big problem: Many red-leaning states have embraced the practice, putting lawmakers in a tough spot.
Trump allies are aiming to tack mail-in voting limits onto the SAVE America Act, which would require people to prove U.S. citizenship to register to vote, among other new rules. The measure is opposed by Democrats, and the president's insistence on adding mail-in voting to the mix has further complicated the politics.
GOP proponents have been struggling to find a way to force through the bill. With 53 seats in the Senate, they are seven short of the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation, with Democrats unified against the measure. They are continuing to debate the bill headed into the weekend, with a vote on the mail-in restrictions expected.
Trump has long raged against mailed votes, saying last year he wanted to "lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS." More recently, he said a ban, along with the other proposed rules, would guarantee Republicans win the midterms when the House and Senate are up for grabs.
Many Republicans have been pushing back privately. They are hoping to scrap or modify an amendment from Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.), a Trump ally, that would only allow vote-by-mail in certain situations, such as military service, illness, travel or disability.
Voting rules differ across the country. Twenty-eight states currently allow anyone to vote absentee for any reason, according to data collated by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The roster includes red-leaning states represented by two Republicans in the Senate such as Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
"We've had input from all of our colleagues who represent states like that," acknowledged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).
Other Republicans deflected questions on mail-in voting. "You'll have to ask President Trump," said Sen. John Boozman (R., Ark.).
Any new restriction on mail-in voting could have a big impact on the midterms. More Democrats report voting by mail, but it isn't clear whether a crackdown would benefit Republicans in competitive races.
Nationwide, 37% of Democrats reported voting by mail in 2024 compared with 24% of Republicans, according to the Survey of the Performance of American Elections, which drew on responses from 10,200 registered voters. But there is little publicly available data on the partisan breakdown of mail-in ballots in each state.
Many key 2026 battleground states don't require an excuse for mail-in voting: Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio.
More than a third of the ballots cast in Michigan in the 2024 general election were sent by mail, according to a report submitted to Congress by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. A quarter of Maine’s ballots were mailed in. In Ohio, around 18% of votes were cast by mail, and 14% in Alaska.
Some Republicans from these states have openly opposed Schmitt’s mail-in amendment.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she is against the entire bill, including curbing mail-in voting, which she said would be “devastating.”
Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, who is on the ballot in 2026, has also signaled doubts about absentee voting changes. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who isn’t running for re-election, said Congress shouldn’t be “completely upending” how states run elections.
Eight states currently have provisions for all-mail elections. Most of them are solidly blue. Then there is Utah, home to the SAVE America Act’s sponsor, GOP Sen. Mike Lee, who said his state could quickly adjust.
“Like most states, it hasn’t been that long since we didn’t have widespread use of de facto universal mail-in balloting,” Lee said this week. “We could do it again.”
In the remaining 14 states, people can vote by mail if they are out of the county on Election Day or are ill or disabled. Most of those states allow additional reasons for a mail-in ballot, such as advanced age. Federal law provides for military absentee voting.
The Supreme Court could add an additional twist. On Monday, the justices will hear arguments in a case over Mississippi's law counting mailed-in ballots if they are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to five business days later.
The Republican National Committee is challenging the law, arguing that when Congress established a date for Election Day, it also barred states from counting ballots delivered after it.
Mississippi has told the Supreme Court that that interpretation "will have destabilizing nationwide ramifications" and "would require scrapping election laws in most states."
Some election lawyers have characterized the case as a broader attack on mail-in ballots since voters don't control the postal service.