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By Gabe Whisnant
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President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his decision to vote by mail in a Florida special election, saying his responsibilities as president made in‑person voting impractical.
According to public records viewed by Newsweek, Trump cast a mail-in ballot in Palm Beach County, home to his Mar-a-Lago resort, in a Tuesday special election between Democrat Emily Gregory and Republican Jon Maples for a state House seat.
Trump has frequently called mail-in voting “cheating." Critics have derided the president this week, accusing his Florida vote of a double-standard.
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“I used a mail‑in ballot. You know why? Because I’m president of the United States and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail‑in ballot,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
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Why It Matters
Trump’s decision to vote by mail in a Florida special election has intensified scrutiny of his long‑standing attacks on mail‑in voting, an issue he has elevated as a top legislative priority while pressing Congress to restrict the practice nationwide. The episode has become a flashpoint as Trump simultaneously denounces mail ballots as prone to fraud and urges passage of the SAVE America Act, a sweeping elections bill that would sharply limit their use.
The contrast has provided fresh ammunition to Democrats, who argue the president applies one standard to himself and another to voters broadly. It also comes as courts, election officials and independent researchers have repeatedly found mail‑in voting fraud to be rare, complicating Trump’s central argument as lawmakers debate election rules ahead of the midterms.
What To Know
Palm Beach County election records show Trump cast a mail‑in ballot in Tuesday’s special election for Florida House District 87 and Senate District 14. The House race included Trump‑endorsed Maples, who lost to Gregory in Mar-a-Lago's district.
Early in‑person voting for the contest ran through the weekend, when Trump was still in South Florida. The White House has said the president’s vote was consistent with exceptions he supports for absentee voting tied to travel and official duties.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales rejected claims of hypocrisy, saying Trump opposes universal mail‑in voting systems rather than limited absentee ballots for specific circumstances. She pointed to provisions in the SAVE America Act that would allow mail ballots for illness, disability, military service or travel, while barring states from automatically sending ballots to all voters.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and other lawmakers have seized on Trump’s Florida vote to criticize the bill and the president’s rhetoric, framing the episode as emblematic of a double standard. Republicans, meanwhile, have continued to back the legislation as part of a broader push for voter identification requirements and tighter election rules.
Trump has continued to attack mail‑in voting in public remarks, calling it “cheating” and “corrupt as hell,” even as he acknowledges exceptions. He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the practice undermines election integrity, a view he has promoted since falsely asserting that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election. Multiple courts and Trump’s own attorney general found no evidence that fraud affected that outcome.
Research has also undercut those claims. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found documented cases of mail‑in ballot fraud accounted for roughly four cases per 10 million ballots cast.
What People Are Saying
Wales, to Newsweek on Tuesday: “As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military or travel–but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it’s highly susceptible to fraud.
“As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “This is a non-story.”
Schumer, this week on the Senate floor: “According to Donald Trump, vote by mail is cheating when other people use it, but perfectly fine when he does it himself."
What Happens Next
The SAVE America Act faces steep odds in the closely divided Senate. Democrats have unified against the measure, arguing it would restrict access to voting while failing to address real election administration challenges.
The Florida election also coincided with renewed legal attention to mail‑in ballots. One day before the vote, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a Mississippi case that could limit states’ ability to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward—a practice Trump has criticized in more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia.
Update: 3/26/26, 7:21 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
Reporting by the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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