Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday, March 31, called out President Donald Trump’s push to end mail-in voting across the country, telling the White House that any attempt to touch Oregon’s longtime vote-by-mail system would bring serious consequences.
“You’ll have hell to pay,” Wyden said in a direct message aimed at Trump after the president announced plans for an executive order that would ban nationwide mail-in ballots and cut federal funding to states that refuse to go along.
Oregon has run its elections almost entirely by mail since 1998, when voters approved the switch in a ballot measure that passed with nearly 70 percent of the vote.
The state began testing the system in the 1980s and made it permanent for all elections thereafter. Ballots are sent to every registered voter weeks before Election Day. Voters mark them at home, sign the return envelope, and mail them back or drop them off.
State records show the system works with almost no fraud. From 2000 through 2019, Oregon cast about 61 million ballots by mail.
Officials obtained just 38 criminal convictions for voter fraud during that time, a rate of 0.00006 percent. No election result has ever flipped because of fraud in the system, according to reviews by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office and longtime election officials.
Also Read: Trump Signs Executive Order on Mail-In Voting Amid GOP Midterm Fears
Wyden pointed to that track record in his response. “Oregonians have successfully voted by mail for over thirty years, and we’ll be damned if we let Donald Trump change the way our state runs its elections,” he wrote.
The senator, who has represented Oregon since 1996, said the state’s approach makes voting easier for working people, seniors, and people with disabilities while guaranteeing election results remain secure.
Trump’s most recent action follows his March 2025 executive order that specifically addressed how states manage ballot deadlines and voter registration.
In addition to threatening funding cuts if states counted mail-in ballots received after Election Day, that order pushed for proof-of-citizenship requirements on federal forms.
Federal courts have blocked parts of it, with judges citing the Constitution’s grant of power over elections to the states under Article I, Section 4.
President Trump’s take
Trump has argued mail ballots invite cheating and pointed to his own past claims about the 2020 election. He has said ending the practice would help Republicans win more seats in the 2026 midterms.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read and other state leaders joined Wyden in calling the effort an overreach.
They noted that Oregon’s system has produced high turnout and accurate counts for decades. Similar all-mail systems operate in states like California, Colorado, and Washington without widespread problems.
Critics of mail voting, mostly Republicans, argue the system makes it too easy to commit fraud or pressure people at home.
Also Read: This is a Scam; Trump Sheds More Light on Birthright Citizenship
They point to isolated cases and say cleaner rolls and in-person voting with ID would fix trust issues.
Some Oregon conservatives claim the state’s voter rolls contain too many outdated entries and that mail ballots helped keep Democrats in power for years.
Voting rights groups like the Brennan Center for Justice have called Trump’s actions a power grab that ignores settled law.
They say the orders create confusion for election officials and could lead to more lawsuits. Some Republican-led states have tightened rules on mail ballots since 2020, but none have gone as far as a full national ban.
Oregon plans to keep sending ballots by mail. Wyden and state leaders made clear they will resist any federal attempt to stop them.
The senator’s bold words signal that the fight over mail-in voting is not nearly over, and that Oregon has no intention of backing down.
