{"id":24493,"date":"2026-08-01T20:06:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24493"},"modified":"2026-08-01T20:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:06:42","slug":"vermonts-gop-governor-defends-state-run-elections-and-mail-in-voting-as-trump-aims-to-reshape-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24493","title":{"rendered":"Vermont\u2019s GOP governor defends state-run elections and mail-in voting as Trump aims to reshape them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260731-phil-scott-mn-1245-b8b1b5.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-289b41\" class=\"body-graf\">Vermont\u2019s GOP Gov. Phil Scott on Friday defended mail ballots and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\" target=\"_blank\">state-run elections<\/a>, rejecting President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> calls for Republicans to \u201cnationalize\u201d elections and limit options for mail-in voting.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3815d3\" class=\"body-graf\">Asked how he responds to Trump\u2019s call for voting to be nationalized, Scott said he goes back to the 10th Amendment, noting that it\u2019s \u201cclear on the role of the states in terms of elections. So I think that we should follow that and we\u2019re closer to the people.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e3a825\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIn Vermont, I would have to say, mail-in ballots are popular. Who are they popular with? Republicans,\u201d Scott told \u201cMeet the Press\u201d moderator Kristen Welker during a common ground conversation with North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein at the National Governors Association meeting in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a8c01a\" class=\"body-graf\">The governor added that mail-in voting has increased voter participation among members of his party in his state, which in turn has boosted GOP representation in the state Legislature.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0a1dec\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe\u2019re closer to our people and we know what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong, and we can control the elections,\u201d Scott added, defending the role of states in administering elections.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1727a3\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI would hope that all, if not the majority, of Democrats would agree that this is ours, not the federal government\u2019s,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were here before the federal government was, the states were, and so we formed the government. Now they\u2019re getting bloated, and we need to protect our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a93128\" class=\"body-graf\">Scott\u2019s remarks come as Trump this year has continued his yearslong opposition to mail-in voting, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-pushes-false-claims-about-mail-vote-fraud-here-are-n1180566\" target=\"_blank\">falsely claiming<\/a> that it is rife with fraud and abuse.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-dfed41\" class=\"body-graf\">The claims have fueled the president\u2019s desire to pass the SAVE America Act, a major piece of federal legislation to overhaul election administration, that has stalled in Congress.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9ac07f\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump has repeatedly said that the bill would ban mail-in voting in most cases, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/trump-save-america-voting-bill-rcna262706\" target=\"_blank\">which is not true<\/a>, though the SAVE Act would impose additional requirements for citizens before registering to vote and casting a ballot.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c466fc\" class=\"body-graf\">The president himself, in a Florida special election earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-cast-mail-ballot-florida-special-election-president-rcna265301\" target=\"_blank\">voted by mail<\/a>, saying it was alright for him to do so because \u201cI\u2019m president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-87b1ff\" class=\"body-graf\">Still, he continued to call mail-in voting \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/trump-casts-mail-ballot-florida-calls-method-cheating-rcna264762\" target=\"_blank\">mail-in cheating<\/a>\u201d after using that method to vote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6e879e\" class=\"body-graf\">Earlier this year, Trump also said in a podcast interview that Republicans should aim to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/trump-republicans-nationalize-elections-rcna257098\" target=\"_blank\">nationalize the voting<\/a>,\u201d comments that drew condemnation from both sides of the aisle.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5fc1fc\" class=\"body-graf\">White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson on Friday responded to Scott\u2019s remarks by saying in a statement that Trump \u201cis committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.\u201d She said the president \u201cwill also continue urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c6970f\" class=\"body-graf\">In federal courts, the Trump administration has defended an executive order the president signed that aimed to create federal lists of voters and would have required mail-in ballots to be sent only to voters on those lists. A federal judge last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/judge-blocks-trumps-executive-order-mail-voting-rcna351751\" target=\"_blank\">blocked that order<\/a>, saying it\u2019s unconstitutional for the federal government to intervene in the administration of state elections. Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/video\/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-let-executive-order-on-mail-in-voting-proceed-267341893617\" target=\"_blank\">appealed the case<\/a> to the Supreme Court, asking for permission to impose the executive order as soon as August so that it can be in effect for the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-64af68\" class=\"body-graf\">Scott\u2019s comments Friday came during a moderated conversation with Stein, who said Trump\u2019s repeated disparagement of mail-in voting and the current election system \u201cis immensely damaging to the health of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5838f5\" class=\"body-graf\">The pair also spoke about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/california-24-states-sue-trump-administration-over-emergency-grant-conditions\/4119149\/\" target=\"_blank\">a lawsuit that Vermont and North Carolina have signed onto<\/a> opposing the Trump administration\u2019s decision to condition the release of some state funds for emergency preparedness on compliance with the president\u2019s demands for election administration reforms.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4b6c17\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWhen a disaster strikes, our objective, whether it\u2019s local government, state government or federal government, must be to do everything in our power to save life and to help people get their lives back together,\u201d Stein said. \u201cSo the notion that you would condition that on a state agreeing to something is offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cddc3e\" class=\"body-graf\">Still, Stein said, some of the proposed reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be a \u201cstep in the right direction,\u201d in making a process for disaster response that\u2019s led by states and assisted by the federal government.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-259a6a\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWhen you think about something like a disaster, it should be locally driven, state managed and federally supported. And so, the resources are where it\u2019s really critical that the federal government step up,\u201d the North Carolina governor said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-56595b\" class=\"body-graf\">He added later, \u201cThere\u2019s the FEMA Review Council, and initially they were talking about eliminating FEMA altogether, and I was opposed to that. And now what they\u2019re heading toward is much more flexibility and quicker money to states, so that we can then respond quickly, and that\u2019s a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b62a61\" class=\"body-graf\">The two governors also spoke about the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation agenda and called for lawmakers in Congress to pass lasting immigration reform, which Stein and Scott each said would take rising above the current political rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-865f6f\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe need more immigration from my standpoint. Legal immigration. There\u2019s got to be a pathway to do that,\u201d Scott said, adding that it could happen if lawmakers forget about \u201cpartisanship, elections, thinking about who\u2019s going to be in power, what can we do to leverage this to get in power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fe9ce8\" class=\"body-graf\">He added, \u201cForget about the next election. Just do the right thing, and nine times out of 10, that\u2019s what works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bffa9e\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Stein agreed, telling Welker, \u201cOur immigration system does not work well. Congress refuses to act. They are too happy to score political points rather than to address a real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vermont\u2019s GOP Gov. Phil Scott on Friday defended mail ballots and state-run elections, rejecting President Donald Trump\u2019s calls for Republicans to \u201cnationalize\u201d elections and limit options for mail-in voting. Asked how he responds to Trump\u2019s call for voting to be nationalized, Scott said he goes back to the 10th Amendment, noting that it\u2019s \u201cclear on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260731-phil-scott-mn-1245-b8b1b5.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}