View this email in your browser ([link removed])
An update from FactCheck.org
Photo by Kathy images / stock.adobe.com


** Trump Launches (Another) Assault on Mail-in Ballots
------------------------------------------------------------

President Donald Trump started the week with a post on his Truth Social platform taking aim at mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines, promising that he would “lead a movement” to get rid of both.

Trump has made false or unsupported claims about these voting systems for years, and he repeated some of them again this week, and added a new claim about the role of states in running elections.

Three of our staffers – Robert Farley, Saranac Hale Spencer and Alan Jaffe – explained what the president got wrong.

First off, Trump was incorrect in claiming that the U.S. is the only country in the world to use mail-in ballots and that “All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.”

There are 11 other countries besides the U.S. – Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – that allow all voters to use some form of mail-in voting, according to a 2024 report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. And there are another 22 that allow some voters – those living in remote areas or abroad or people who are hospitalized or have disabilities, for example – to use mail-in ballots.

The president was also wrong when he claimed that “States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.”

Half a dozen experts we spoke to agreed that states don’t operate as an “agent” of the federal government and the president has no direct authority over the counting and tabulating of ballots.

The Constitution gives the authority to run elections to the states, but gives Congress the ability to change the states' rules – which it has done sparingly. There is no direct role for the president.

Trump also repeated a claim that he’s made frequently in the past – baselessly asserting that “MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD” is associated with mail-in voting.

Elections experts have told us for years that election fraud is slightly more prevalent with mail-in voting than it is with in-person voting. But, they say, it is still rare and has never been proven to have occurred frequently enough to have changed the outcome of a national election.

And the president cast doubt on electronic voting machines, calling them, “Highly ‘Inaccurate.’”

As we’ve written many times before, Trump’s own Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency concluded the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history” and that there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

For more, read the full story: "FactChecking Trump’s Claims About Mail-In Ballots, Voting Machines and States’ Role ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
To compare the amount of aid the United States and Europe have provided to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in 2022, we turn to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research group that publishes the Ukraine Support Tracker ([link removed]) . As of June 30, the institute said, Europe had allocated 167.4 billion euros (equal to about $195 billion today) in aid to Ukraine, while the U.S. had allocated 114.6 billion euros (or about $133 billion). The totals include only direct, bilateral (government-to-government) military, financial and humanitarian aid allocations to Ukraine. Read more: "Trump Repeats False Ukraine Aid Claim ([link removed]) ."
FEATURED FACTS
Since the 1960s, congressional districts have been redrawn every 10 years, after the census has shown how populations shifted. Those new maps can prompt legal challenges that lead to mid-decade redistricting. “Starting in the 1964 congressional election cycle and going through 2024, at least one congressional district’s lines were changed in 24 of the 31 two-year election cycles since then,” Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, told us. But Texas’ proposal to redistrict mid-decade without being compelled by a court is unusual. Read more: "Assessing Redistricting Claims from Texas, New York Governors ([link removed]) ."
DIRECT QUOTE
“It’s a mashup. They’re trying to give the courts, and particularly the Supreme Court, a smorgasbord of arguments hoping that something will stick.” -- Pat Parenteau, an emeritus professor at Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Center, on the Environmental Protection Agency's legal arguments for rescinding the so-called “endangerment finding,” which allows the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA held public hearings this week on its proposed rule to rescind the finding and undo limits on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

Read more: "Q&A on the Trump EPA’s Effort to Curtail Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions ([link removed]) ."


** Wrapping Up
------------------------------------------------------------

Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Court Spin ([link removed])
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. misrepresented the country’s compensation program for those who are harmed by vaccines, alleging that it’s biased and corrupt and falsely claiming that a person can’t sue a vaccine company “no matter how negligent they are.” He also incorrectly said there is “zero incentive” for vaccine companies to produce safe vaccines.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* Verificación de las afirmaciones de Trump sobre el voto por correo, las máquinas de votación y el papel de los estados ([link removed])
El 18 de agosto, el presidente Donald Trump comenzó el ataque de su segundo mandato contra las papeletas de voto por correo y las máquinas de votación electrónica, lanzando una serie de afirmaciones infundadas al anunciar una iniciativa para eliminar ambos métodos de votación.
Análisis de lo que han dicho los gobernadores de Texas y Nueva York sobre la redistribución de distritos electorales ([link removed])
La gobernadora de Nueva York, Kathy Hochul, y el gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott, han hecho afirmaciones enfrentadas en la disputa por la redistribución de distritos electorales de Texas para ganar escaños republicanos en la Cámara de Representantes.

Do you like FactCheck.Weekly? Share it with a friend! They can subscribe here ([link removed]) .
Donate to Support Our Work ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Threads ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** TikTok ([link removed])
** WhatsApp ( [link removed])
We'll show up in your inbox every Friday with this fact-focused rundown. But you can message us any day of the week with questions or comments: [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 FactCheck.org, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
FactCheck.org
Annenberg Public Policy Center
P.O. Box 58100
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=59aa1df5f8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_07_17_09_45_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-7e8c6c3a3f-48392213)
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=59aa1df5f8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_07_17_09_45_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-7e8c6c3a3f-48392213)
.

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
FactCheck.org: A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center . P.O. Box 58100 . Philadelphia, Pa 19102 . USA