PHOENIX – Is President Donald Trump trying to pave a way toward canceling the 2026 elections?
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes isn’t ruling it out.
Fontes sees Trump’s call to end mail-in voting this week as a possible step in what the state’s top elections official believes is a “dangerous” pattern.
“What in the world does that pattern lead to? It leads to the further erosion of our trust in our elections that might justify his ability to determine that there’s an emergency and cancel the 2026 elections,” Fontes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Tuesday.
Why does Fontes think Trump might try to cancel 2026 elections?
Fontes highlighted several developments that he considers part of the pattern, including Trump’s executive order earlier this year related to election administration.
“He’s also said that the DOJ (Department of Justice) needs to go after other elections officials. Now, he’s issuing this statement which eventually will become an order,” the Arizona Democrat said.
The statement Fontes referred to is a Truth Social post in which Trump said he will lead an effort to halt mail-in ballots.
In Monday’s post, the president promised to sign executive orders to “help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
Fontes previously voiced his concerns that Trump may be plotting to cancel the 2026 elections after the president’s March 25 executive order on election administration.
“I’ve said this publicly,” he said Tuesday. “This is where all the evidence is going and at every turn Donald Trump gives us another reason to believe that that might be true. This is dangerous. This is unconstitutional.”
Can Trump eliminate mail-in ballots?
Fontes pushed back on the idea that Trump could eliminate mail-in ballots.
The Constitution makes the states the entities that determine the “time, place and manner” of elections, but does allow Congress to “make” or “alter” rules for federal elections, according to The Associated Press.
Congress can change the way states run congressional and presidential elections but has no say in the way a state runs its own elections. The president is not mentioned at all in the Constitution’s list of entities with powers over elections.
“I don’t know where this guy thinks he’s getting his instructions from, but he’s going to need something better than lawyers,” Fontes said of Trump. “He might need a team of the best sorcerers in the country to get this to happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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