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Todd Blanche defends tighter mail voting rules and says election practices are under review in several states
The attorney general told CBS News that mail voting carries a greater potential for fraud than in-person voting with ID, but when asked for proof he pointed to common sense. The federal restrictions remain blocked by court orders.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Trump administration’s effort to tighten mail voting rules and said, in an interview with CBS News, that the Justice Department is reviewing election practices in multiple states.
According to CBS News, Blanche was asked what evidence supported the claim that the new rules would prevent fraud. He initially said there was extensive evidence and argued that mail voting, by its nature, creates a greater potential for fraud than in-person voting with identification. Pressed for specifics, he repeated that position and ultimately framed it as a matter of common sense.
CBS News reported that Blanche said the review involves multiple states and extends beyond the Justice Department. His comments came as the administration faces several overlapping court battles over its election policies.
The outlet said a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month blocking the Postal Service from enforcing the new mail ballot rules, and that a second federal judge blocked the policy on Sunday. On Monday night, the Supreme Court declined the administration’s request to lift the order issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, meaning the restrictions will remain on hold for the upcoming midterm elections. The broader legal fight over the rule is still ongoing.
The regulation, adopted on Aug. 21, requires states to provide the Postal Service with lists of mail ballot recipients and to use USPS-approved ballot envelopes with unique barcodes. Under the rule, USPS could refuse to transmit ballots that do not meet those conditions.
CBS News also noted that documented election fraud, including fraud involving mail ballots, does occur but is rare according to research. Among the examples cited was a 2024 Stanford study of about 4.5 million voters in Washington state that found 14 ballots that may have been cast after a voter’s death, or about 0.0003%, and said even those cases could reflect matching or clerical errors. The network also cited a broader 2025 analysis of the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections that found about four identified cases of mail-ballot fraud for every 10 million mail ballots cast, an average rate of 0.000043%.
Separately, CBS News reported that over the past several months the Justice Department told 29 states and Washington, D.C., to preserve 2024 election records and is now suing for voter registration data containing sensitive identifiers. The outlet added that the department has acknowledged in litigation that unredacted voter data could be shared with the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship checks.
Asked about those efforts, Blanche told CBS News that there are hundreds of open investigations involving people who are in the country illegally and who potentially, and in many cases according to him have already been charged with, voting. He also said the information collected would be used to help determine whether ineligible people are voting, although he said he was not aware of any specific database.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
