FILE PHOTO: Workers process mail ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center in the city of Industry, California, U.S. October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order ahead of next year's midterm elections, saying he would lead "a movement" targeting mail-in balloting and voting machines across the country.

"I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly “Inaccurate,” Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES," he wrote in a social media post without providing any evidence.

"WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections," he added.

Trump, a Republican, previously signed a March 25 executive order targeting elections that has been blocked by the courts after Democrat-led states sued.

States run elections separately in each of the 50 U.S. states, but Trump warned them to comply.

"Remember, the States are merely an “agent” for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do," Trump wrote.

The Republican president's comments follow his meeting with his Russian counterpart on Friday, in which Trump said Vladimir Putin agreed with him on ending mail-in balloting.

Trump, who promoted the false narrative that he, not Democrat Joe Biden, won the 2020 election, has long pressed his fellow Republicans to try harder to overhaul the U.S. voting system.

He also voted by mail in some previous elections and urged his supporters to do so in 2024.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Maiya Keidan; additional reporting by Nathan LayneEditing by Gareth Jones and Chizu Nomiyama )