Trump says mail-in voting is ruining America—but guess who’s been quietly mailing in his ballot every election since 2020?

President Donald Trump cast a mail-in ballot in a Florida special election this past Tuesday, even as he actively campaigns against the practice and pushes for laws to restrict it. This is not new; he has quietly been casting mail-in ballots in every election since at least 2020, while publicly calling it a threat to honest elections. The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website confirms his mail-in vote, and an elections office spokesperson verified the information.

According to The Daily Beast, Trump is registered to vote at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and submitted his ballot for a state legislature special election. He spent the two previous weekends at Mar-a-Lago, and early in-person voting was available right up until Sunday. He could have voted in person, but chose not to.

This came just a day after Trump blocked efforts to fund the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration. He demanded that any funding deal be tied to the passage of his SAVE America Act, a bill that would ban most mail-in voting and require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering in person. Illegal voting, however, is extremely rare in the United States.

Trump’s repeated claims about mail-in voting do not hold up against the facts

The SAVE America Act has already passed the House and is now in its second week of Senate debate. If passed, it could prevent 21 million Americans from voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, because many of them do not have easy access to the required documents. 

Trump has also been facing pushback on other foreign policy fronts, he recently backed down from his threats to bomb Iran and was pushed toward negotiations instead. Trump has spent years attacking mail-in voting and repeatedly claiming that the United States is the only country that allows it. 

During a roundtable on crime and public safety this past Monday, he said, “it’s been brought to my attention today that we’re the only country that does mail-in voting.” He then added, “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it ‘mail-in cheating,’ and we’ve got to do something about it.”

In August 2025, he posted on social media, “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING.” In reality, 34 countries or territories worldwide allow mail-in voting.

A White House spokesperson called Trump’s use of a mail-in ballot a “non-story,” arguing that since he lives in Washington, D.C., but votes in Florida, his situation falls under travel exceptions in the SAVE America Act. 

However, he was physically present at Mar-a-Lago during the early voting window, which weakens that explanation. His administration has also faced scrutiny over military matters, including claims about what military families think about the Iran conflict that were contradicted by a Gold Star father.

Many Republican-leaning states, including Florida, have used mail-in voting for decades. Florida Republicans historically relied on it to help older voters cast their ballots easily. During the pandemic, Democrats in swing states began requesting mail-in ballots in far greater numbers than Republicans, which appears to be when Republican political opinion on the practice began to shift.