Political strategist Dick Morris praised President Donald Trump’s executive order routing mail-in ballot oversight through the U.S. Postal Service, calling it “a brilliant move” that opens a new front against election fraud.
Morris told Newsmax Friday the directive gives Trump a federal mechanism he’s long wanted. “It’s very exciting,” he said.
On March 31, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.”
“A LIST BEFORE ELECTION DAY OF WHO’S ELIGIBLE FOR MAIL-IN VOTES TO MAKE SURE THAT BALLOTS ONLY GO TO THOSE PEOPLE.”
The order directs the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Social Security Administration, to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens of voting age in each state.
The Postal Service is instructed to deliver mail ballots only to voters on state-supplied absentee rolls submitted to the federal government at least 60 days before an election.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who joined Trump at the signing, said states would be required to apply USPS barcodes to ballot envelopes for tracking.
Morris said the order makes voting by mail auditable. He argued that without such a system, voting by mail cannot be policed the way in-person voting can.
“Unless you have photo ID for in-person voting, you can’t control it. But how do you control mail-in voting?” Morris asked, pointing to what he described as bloated voter rolls in states such as California.
Parking lots are getting ballots, he said, and “voters who have died 20 years ago are getting ballots, and many of them are voting.”
Morris tied the issue to illegal immigration, saying border czar Tom Homan had cited a population of 20 million to 30 million people in the country illegally.
The order faces a widening legal fight.
On May 28, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington declined to issue an emergency order blocking the directive, finding the challenge premature because federal agencies had not yet implemented it.
Democrats filed an appeal on June 1.
A parallel challenge brought by a coalition of Democrat-led states is pending in federal court in Boston, where U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani heard arguments June 2.
The Postal Service has begun rulemaking. A proposed rule circulated in late May would impose uniform standards for election mail, including unique envelope barcodes and verified state mail-in voter lists.
A final rule is due within 120 days of the order’s signing.
