by President Trump’s promise to end the mail-in voting scam is being rejected by Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin, who claims it won’t stand up in court.
Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, President Trump announced on his social media site Truth Social on Monday that he will spearhead an effort to abolish mail-in ballots by an executive order.
The president claimed that without this thoroughly debunked mail-in scam, Democrats are essentially unelected.
However, Galvin told GBH this week that there is no proof to support Trump’s assertion that mail-in ballots cause fraud and that they are safe, secure, and popular.
Numerous elections have already taken place, and this year will see more municipal elections in which voters will have the option to cast ballots by mail. GBH was informed by Galvin that they are quite at ease with it.
During the epidemic in 2020, Massachusetts made mail-in votes available to all voters. The VOTES Act of 2022 made it a permanent option. To improve the voting process’s integrity, a plan that can be included on the ballot in 2026 might once more restrict the eligibility of mail-in ballots to voters in some situations, according to the proposal.
According to NPR, Monday’s post follows 18 other states and Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Trump over a March executive order that required proof of citizenship when registering to vote and declared mail-in ballots received after Election Day invalid despite a pre-Election Day postmark, which 18 states permit.
It is a waste of time to respond to his rhetoric. There’s no purpose in it, Galvin told GBH, because he always lies and exaggerates. You appear in court and present the facts, which are available in Massachusetts.
Gavin informed GBH that Massachusetts was an excellent example of how to vote via mail.
More than one-third of Massachusetts voters cast mail-in ballots in the 2024 election. Galvin’s office informed GBH that 62% of voters cast ballots via mail in the primary held in September of last year.
We have procedures in place to safeguard voters, ensure that no one abuses them, and we act swiftly on any indication of improper behavior, Galvin told GBH. It has been successful here in Massachusetts for all of these reasons.
Same-day voter registration
Galvin is spearheading an effort to have same-day voter registration on the ballot for the following year, in addition to reacting to Trump’s attempts to alter voting laws.
According to the 2022 VOTES Act, state law now establishes the voter registration deadline as 10 days before to election day.
In a statement, Galvin said, “I have long supported allowing Massachusetts voters to register to vote at their polling place on Election Day.” Regretfully, the Legislature has repeatedly thwarted attempts to implement Election Day registration through the regular procedure.
A 2024 study by UMASS Amherst found that 64% of Massachusetts voters are in favor of same-day voter registration.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, if the proposal is approved, Massachusetts will join 23 other states—including Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut—that permit same-day registration starting in 2028.
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