AP: Trump Misrepresents Jimmy Carter’s Record on Mail‑In Voting
An Associated Press fact‑check finds President Donald Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt are falsely claiming that former President Jimmy Carter opposed mail‑in and absentee ballots as they promote Trump’s SAVE America Act voting proposal. Citing a 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform report that Carter co‑chaired with James Baker, Trump said Carter believed mail‑in ballots "should not be allowed," and Leavitt framed the report as condemning absentee ballots, but the commission actually warned of potential fraud risks while recommending safeguards and further study. Jason Carter and The Carter Center, along with Carter’s own 2020 public statements, affirm that Carter supported and personally used mail‑in voting and urged expansion of vote‑by‑mail during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The piece notes that about 30% of Americans voted by mail in the 2024 election that Trump won, that use of mailed ballots is high in Republican‑run states like Indiana, South Dakota and Utah, and that experts still see no evidence of widespread fraud tied to mail or absentee voting. The fact‑check underscores how selective readings of older election‑reform documents are being used to sow doubt about mail voting as Congress debates stringent new ID and proof‑of‑citizenship rules.
📌 Key Facts
- Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt this week cited a 2005 Carter‑Baker commission report to claim Jimmy Carter opposed mail‑in and absentee ballots.
- The 2005 report said absentee ballots are a potential source of fraud but recommended safeguards and further research; it did not call for banning mail‑in voting.
- Jimmy Carter publicly endorsed vote‑by‑mail in 2020 and said he had used absentee ballots for more than five years, a position confirmed by his grandson Jason Carter and The Carter Center.
- Roughly 30% of voters cast mail ballots in the 2024 election, and mail voting rates remain high in several Republican‑controlled states.
- Election experts cited in the article say there is no evidence that mail‑in or absentee voting has produced widespread fraud in the U.S.
📊 Relevant Data
Non-citizen voting in US elections is extremely rare; for example, in Michigan's 2024 election audit of 7.2 million registered voters, only 16 non-citizen voters were identified, representing 0.00028% of votes cast.
Update: Review of Claims of Noncitizen Registrants and Voters — Center for Election Innovation & Research
More than 9% of voting-age American citizens (21.3 million people) do not have proof of citizenship documents readily available.
Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily Available — Brennan Center for Justice
There is a racial disparity in access to proof of citizenship documents: just over 8% of White American citizens lack readily available proof, compared to nearly 11% of American citizens of color.
Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily Available — Brennan Center for Justice
Black adult citizens are disproportionately less likely to have a driver's license: 18% of Black adult citizens do not have a driver's license at all, compared to 5% of White adult citizens; population percentages are approximately 13% Black and 59% non-Hispanic White among US adults.
Who Lacks ID in America Today? An Exploration of Voter ID Access and Barriers — University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement
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