McCarthy opposes federal mandate requiring states to mail ballots to all voters

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy says he opposes a federal mandate requiring all states to automatically mail out ballots to every registered voter for the November election.

“I would not support a federal mandate of taking over elections," the California Republican told Just the News during a press conference Tuesday. "States have the power to run elections and they should. They know best within their own state of how to run it. We have supplied resources to make sure they're secure in their elections as well, but states can determine how they would run their elections.” 

McCarthy appeared at the news conference alongside Reps-elect Mike Garcia of California and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin. 

"We just went through a special election in California where everybody was mailed a ballot," McCarthy said, referring to Garcia's race. "They then opened up actual in-person voting, selecting based – I think it would be a little different then the way they selected it. But we had a very fair, honest election that had an outcome that we had not seen in 22 years.”

McCarthy said Garcia and Tiffany's victories are an early sign of what could happen for the GOP in November.

“Just as we've watched special elections before give us an early indicator of what will happen in November, I believe these two people standing behind me give us the best indication that come November, there will be a change in this House, and America will be in a much stronger position,” he said.

The $3 trillion HEROES Act that the House passed includes a mandate for states to automatically mail ballots to all registered voters. In most states, individual voters have to submit a request for an absentee ballot.

Critics of the automatic mailing of ballots have raised fraud concerns. According to Federal Election Assistance Commission data, 28.3 million mail-in ballots from 2012 to 2018 remain unaccounted for as of April.