Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones says he’ll challenge President Donald Trump’s newest executive order targeting mail-in voting. No excuse, absentee mail-in voting is a newer voting tool in Virginia, and Jones says it’s safe and secure.
“Cheating on mail in voting is legendary; it’s horrible what's going on,” said President Donald Trump ahead of the signing of an executive order he says will make mail-in voting safer and more secure.
Trump voted by mail earlier this year. He's long criticized the practice and blamed it on his loss in 2020.
“Because of the fact that I’m President of the United States," Trump told the press following that vote. "I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida, because I felt I should be here instead of being in the beautiful sunshine.”
Virginia vastly expanded mail-in voting in 2020, allowing absentee mail-in voting without an excuse.
Trump’s new order hopes to put limits on that voting, in addition to creating a nationwide list of voters and other demands on states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Some of the asks, such as an Intelligent Mail barcode that allows for ballots to be tracked, are already used in the Commonwealth.
But Virginia Attorney General Jones says he plans to fight any expansion of federal authority in court.
“Mail-in voting is very secure, and in Virginia we run our own elections," Jones told Radio IQ Wednesday afternoon. "The federal government is not responsible for running our elections. We are good at it. We have proper procedures and guardrails in place to make sure they’re safe and secure."
To that end, Jones has promised to join a forthcoming legal effort that plans to challenge Trump's EO.
Notably, the U.S. Constitution reads, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”
This language has given critics of Trump’s order confidence in their success.
