Ban on mail voting? Trump’s latest assault on the Constitution | Opinion

Forget for a moment that voting by mail helps improve participation in the most fundamental and important right we have in America.

Forget for a moment that mail-in voting is sometimes the only way that members of the military, particularly those who are deployed overseas, can vote in an election.

Forget for a moment that mail-in voting makes it easier, if not simply possible, for voters with disabilities or difficult work schedules to vote.

Forget for a moment that mail-in voting allows voters to view their ballot ahead of time, research the candidates and become better-informed citizens when making a decision.

Forget for a moment that several states, such as Oregon, Washington, Utah and Colorado, rely primarily on mail-in voting, with wide bipartisan support and tremendous success.

Forget for a moment that mail-in voting in the United States dates back to the Civil War.

Forget for a moment that instances of fraud through mail-in voting have been shown time and again to be rare, occurring so rarely that they could not possibly affect the outcome of a national election.

And yet, President Donald Trump continues to argue, without any credible evidence, that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud, and he has vowed to ban it with an executive order.

Also forget for a moment that other nations use mail-in voting, despite Trump’s blatant lies. And forget for a moment that the president is proudly claiming support from Russian President Vladimir Putin that mail-in voting is evil.

As the Idaho Statesman’s Sarah Cutler reported last week, mail-in ballots are highly reliable and represent an important part of Idaho’s elections, according to Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane. About 20% of ballots cast in the past two elections in Idaho were absentee ballots, McGrane said.

Trump’s obsession with getting rid of mail-in voting is rooted in his Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen.”

But forget for a moment that any attempt by Trump to ban mail-in voting would be foolish and misguided.

Consider something more important: Any attempt by Trump to eliminate mail-in voting would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution. (Not that he worries much about the Constitution.)

Article 1, Section 4, states: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”

Remember the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt? Remember Rep. Russ Fulcher’s refusal to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election? Remember the challenges that were made to the results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada?

Do you remember the underpinnings of their arguments?

They argued, in part, that governors and courts — the executive and judicial branches — violated the Constitution by changing election laws without legislative approval, violating Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution.

Even Idaho, if you recall, changed its election laws without the Legislature’s approval, during the May 2020 primary elections. Fresh into the COVID pandemic, Idaho Gov. Brad Little declared an emergency and announced that all voting would be by mail only.

But when you win a state, apparently, it’s all OK.

By the way, nearly 30% of ballots in the 2024 presidential election that Trump won were cast by mail.

Trump’s promise to ban mail-in voting via executive order would violate the elections clause of the Constitution.

Those who constantly shout about “states’ rights” should be shouting from the rafters that Trump is suggesting violating those rights.

Imagine if a future president, citing the huge success of voter turnout in Oregon, issued an executive order banning in-person voting in every state. Imagine a Democratic president ordering Idaho to put an end to in-person voting.

No, there’s good reason the Founding Fathers ensured that states have the right to determine the method of their own elections.

Although Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were unsuccessful, he was successful in delegitimizing the presidency of Joe Biden in the eyes of his followers.

And that’s the perhaps real danger here: Trump’s antics only serve to delegitimize a certain segment of votes and cast suspicion on a certain segment of the electorate — the millions and millions who vote by mail.

Not only is Trump seeking to violate the Constitution, he’s trying to undermine yet another institution that forms the bedrock of our democracy.

Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.