Healey Accuses Trump of Trying to ‘Steal This Election’ by Restricting Mail-In Voting 

By Sam Drysdale

As President Donald Trump attempts to limit mail-in voting, Gov. Maura Healey claimed Wednesday that he is attempting to “steal this election” and that Massachusetts would try to protect the mechanism for its voters. 

“We’re going to keep mail-in voting, I know the secretary of state’s office and local officials will run a safe and secure election here. Mail-in ballots, I think they go out pretty soon, actually,” she said on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” Wednesday morning. 

As she claimed that Massachusetts would protect the relatively new voting method, Healey also accused Trump of “trying to rig the election.”

Healey said Trump is “a desperate president, a desperate man, a desperate, narcissistic man who wants to do everything he can to retain power, and the only way he’s going to do that with approval ratings that are absolutely in the tank, the lowest of any president in history, is by trying to rig the election. So let’s see it coming.” 

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order he signed in March to change mail-in voting rules ahead of November’s elections, which span federal midterms and important decisions on the state level. 

The order calls on the U.S. Postal Service to restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots in states that don’t hand over a list of eligible voters. It also directs the Homeland Security Department and Social Security Administration to create a list of certified absentee voters, which the Postal Service would refer to when delivering ballots.

In June, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the order, and the issue is now up to the Supreme Court. Separately, Trump is pushing for his elections security bill, the SAVE America Act — which would further restrict mail-in voting and mandate identification for voting — in Congress. However, it seems to have limited support on Capitol Hill. 

Trump has blamed mail-in ballots for his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, calling them “inherently corrupt,” though has said he has used the method to cast his own votes. 

“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary,” Trump said when he signed the order in March to limit mail-in voting. “It’s horrible, what’s gone on. It’s very clearly covered … I think this will help a lot with elections.”

Massachusetts is part of a coalition of Democrat officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia who are arguing in court that the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. 

GBH co-host Margery Eagan asked Healey if her confidence in maintaining access to mail-in ballots is “because states run the elections.” 

“Yeah! Well, that’s the thing,” Healey replied. “People got to know that across this country, it is your state and local officials who actually run elections, and you know, we have seen time and time again, they do that well.”

Asked specifically if the Supreme Court could overrule Massachusetts on mail-in voting Healey said, “I’m not a constitutional scholar, I don’t think so.”

Mail-in voting application have already gone out in Massachusetts for the Sept. 1 primaries, and early voting takes place Aug. 22 through Aug. 28.

“I think we’re going to see: all bets are off,” Healey said Wednesday. “We’re going to see everything and anything thrown at us by the Trump administration.”

She continued, “They will be sending DOJ monitors to Massachusetts and states around the country. They will be sending out federal agents to try and intimidate and keep voters from the polls. They’re going to try to steal ballot boxes. They’re going to file cases ahead of voting day to block people from voting. They’re going to try to find ways to take people off the voter rolls. We’ve just got to be prepared.” 

The U.S. Department of Justice pledged to send monitors to observe polling locations in Boston and New Bedford for Sept. 1 primary elections. Healey previously claimed this was “about intimidation” and “an effort to try to scare voters.” 

U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in a video posted on X, “This is something that DOJ does routinely.” 

“We’re sending the monitors into cities and counties where there might have been some problems in the recent elections,” Dhillon said. 

The state investigated Boston’s election department after several city polling locations ran out of ballots during the 2024 election; and the DOJ letter sent to New Bedford’s election commissioner this month says the city was selected due to “a significant population of limited-English proficient (“LEP”) United States citizens of voting-age in New Bedford.” 

On the radio Wednesday, Healey said it is important to make sure people are registered to vote, know how to vote, and have a plan to vote. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve got just over 90 days to go ’til the election. So we are going to see, day by day, week by week, another ridiculous effort by Donald Trump to steal this election,” she said.