GOP House hopeful Marter slams mail-in voting as ‘a scam’

The Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood for her seat in Congress supported President Donald Trump’s call to end mail-in voting this week by calling the centuries-old practice “a scam” that is “ripe for fraud.”

“If you can't find your polling place on Election day or at an early voting site, perhaps you shouldn't be voting,” Oswego’s James Marter wrote Monday in a lengthy Facebook post.

Mail-in voting initially was designed for Americans unable to go to their local polling places on Election Day. It’s been used by active-duty military personnel, people in hospitals, people with disabilities, college students and others.

More recently, the service expanded in Illinois and other states to allow anyone to vote by mail. Postal voting increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marter objected to the practice and blamed Democratic legislators for passing vote-by-mail laws.

“On Election day poll locations for voting are brought to precincts,” he wrote while reposting Trump’s recent social media comments about mail-in voting and voter fraud. “Any able bodied person could walk to vote.”

When asked to clarify some of his remarks, Marter stressed he supports services that would bring people to voting booths and establishing polling places at assisted living communities.

He opposed any type of mail-in voting that wouldn’t be witnessed by election authorities, even for military personnel or people with disabilities.

“The key to me is voter verification,” Marter said.

In a subsequent post on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, Marter said military personnel could be allowed to cast absentee ballots by mail “with some enhanced verification.”

In response to Marter’s original comments, Democratic candidate Roman G. Valenciano of Earlville, who aims to challenge Underwood in the March 2026 primary, said voting by mail eliminates barriers for people with disabilities who can’t travel to polling places or stand in long lines to vote and for those who otherwise would have to sacrifice pay at work to cast ballots on Election Day.

“Vote by mail is not a scam, it’s a lifeline,” Valenciano said. “It is secure, it has been used by members of our military for decades, and it expands access without diminishing integrity.”

When asked for a response, an Underwood campaign spokesperson sent an audio recording of the congresswoman accusing Republicans of trying to undermine public confidence in elections.

Trump long has argued, without evidence, that voting by mail isn’t secure and invites fraud, even as its popularity has grown among voters across the political spectrum. Fraud is rare and limited in scope and gets prosecuted, The Associated Press reported earlier this year.

While Trump blamed mail-in votes for his 2020 presidential loss, Republican Party leaders encouraged voters to cast ballots by mail in 2024, and it helped propel him back into the Oval Office.

Regardless, Marter lauded Trump for trying to “restore honesty and integrity” to elections by pledging to end voting by mail.

Forcing people to sacrifice pay or their health to vote is voter suppression, Valenciano said.

“I believe in making it easier for every eligible American to cast their ballot, whether that’s in person, early, or by mail,” he said. “That’s not partisan. That’s democracy.”

Kathy Cortez, vice president of the League of Women Voters Illinois, said low voter turnout is proof the U.S. needs to expand, not reduce, voting options.

Postal voting “ensures that our elderly, disabled, and military continue to have their voices heard at the polls,” she said.

Marter is a former Oswego Public Library board member who lost campaigns for that panel and for a school board this spring. He unsuccessfully ran for the 14th District seat in 2024, 2022 and 2020; for the 16th District seat in 2018; and for U.S. Senate in 2016.

Underwood will run for a fifth term in 2026. She was first elected to Congress in 2018.

The 14th District encompasses parts of Kane, Will, DeKalb, Kendall, LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam counties.

• Political Roundabout is an occasional column on campaign, legislative and political news with a suburban focus.