Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, is pushing back against President Donald Trump's call for Republicans to nationalize elections, defending mail-in voting as a states' rights issue ahead of the upcoming midterms.

According to NBC News, Scott said during a panel on Friday that he will protect his state's mail-in ballot system despite Trump's efforts to curtail it. Scott invoked the framework of federalism and rejected the idea of allowing the federal government to overhaul how states conduct elections. Vermont is one of several states that adopted universal mail-in voting, a system the state made permanent after expanded use during the 2020 pandemic elections.

"I would hope that all, if not the majority, of Democrats would agree that this is ours, not the federal government's," Scott said. "We were here before the federal government was, the states were, and so we formed the government. Now they're getting bloated, and we need to protect our rights."

Trump has waged a years-long campaign against mail-in voting, which he has falsely claimed is rife with fraud and abuse. The president has also falsely asserted that his stalled SAVE America Act would ban mail-in voting. A federal judge struck down one of Trump's executive orders aimed at limiting mail-in ballots and establishing federal voter rolls — a ruling Trump has petitioned the Supreme Court to lift before the midterms.

Scott's dissent places him among a minority of prominent Republicans publicly breaking with the president on election administration, an issue Trump has made central to his second-term agenda. Scott, who has won reelection by wide margins in a state where registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans, has previously distanced himself from Trump on multiple policy fronts.

Scott pointed to the 10th Amendment as the constitutional foundation protecting Vermont's mail-in voting system, NBC News reported. The amendment, which reserves to the states powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, is, Scott said, "clear on the role of the states in terms of elections."

"So I think that we should follow that, and we're closer to the people," Scott said.

States are "closer to our people," Scott continued. "We know what's right and what's wrong, and we can control the elections."

Election administration in the United States has historically been decentralized, with states setting their own rules for voter registration, ballot access, and vote-counting procedures. Trump's push represents a notable departure from that tradition, and the Supreme Court's response to his petition could reshape the balance of authority over elections heading into the midterms.

The governor also noted that mail-in voting participation has risen among Republican voters in Vermont, describing the system as widely popular with GOP constituents. That popularity, Scott argued, has translated into increased Republican representation in the Vermont state Legislature, according to NBC News.

"In Vermont, I would have to say, mail-in ballots are popular. Who are they popular with? Republicans," Scott said.