RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Newsweek — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 4 sources
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. President Donald Trump has once again voted by mail in Florida, despite repeatedly attacking the practice and most recently calling mail-in ballots “inherently corrupt.”
Trump cast his ballot in Florida’s Republican primary, with Palm Beach County voting records showing that he requested a mail ballot in late July and returned it on August 13, just days before Tuesday’s primary, Politico reports. The vote marks the second time this year that Trump has reportedly used a mail-in ballot in his adopted home state.
Trump previously voted by mail in a Florida special election in March, even as he was publicly criticizing the practice. At the time, Trump said he chose to vote by mail because he is the president. However, records showed that he was in Palm Beach during a period when early in-person voting was available, the Associated Press previously reported. The White House dismissed earlier criticism of Trump's decision as a “non-story.”
Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, told Newsweek via email on Monday in a released statement: "What a joke. It’s almost like Donald Trump thinks we’re a bunch of idiots. The President whines about mail-in voting day after day, only to turn around and vote by mail himself. If he can lie so comfortably about the integrity of mail-in voting, just imagine what else he’s lying to all of us about. He has repeatedly proven himself to be full of it. Donald Trump is a hypocrite at the highest level and a grave threat to this democracy. But what else is new? It’s time to elect a Congress that will hold this corrupt administration accountable.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Monday for comment.
In July, Trump described mail-in ballots as “inherently corrupt” while advocating for restrictions that would generally limit their use to circumstances such as illness, disability, military deployment or travel.
Fact-checkers have found no evidence of widespread fraud associated with mail voting, with a 2025 Brookings Institution study estimating roughly four cases of mail-voting fraud for every 10 million mail ballots cast. About 30 percent of ballots in the 2024 presidential election were cast by mail, according to federal data.
Meanwhile, Trump has employed multiple strategies to pressure Congress into passing the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
The efforts have included attaching the voting bill to a sweeping defense spending package, urging Senate Republicans to weaken or bypass the filibuster to secure passage with a simple majority and publicly pressuring lawmakers through posts on Truth Social by framing the measure as a top legislative priority.
Supporters argued the proposal would strengthen election integrity, while opponents contend that it could make voting more difficult for eligible citizens without significantly addressing the problem of non-citizen voting.
This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Gray R. Thomas
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.