President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to overhaul US elections, requiring citizenship proof to register and insisting ballots arrive by Election Day. The order demands states collaborate with federal agencies on voter lists and prosecutes election crimes, threatening to withdraw federal funds from non-compliant states.
PresidentDonaldTrumpon Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the US, including requiring documentaryproofofcitizenshipto register to vote infederalelections and demanding that allballotsbe receivedbyElectionDay.
The order says the US has failed to enforce basic and necessaryelectionprotections and calls on states to work withfederalagencies to sharevoterlists and prosecuteelectioncrimes. It threatens to pullfederalfunding from states whereelectionofficials don't comply.
The move, which is likely to face swift challenges because states have broad authority to set their ownelectionrules, is consistent withTrumps long historyofrailing againstelectionprocesses.
He often claims elections are being rigged, even before the results are known, and has waged battles against certain voting methods since he lost the 2020election to DemocratJoe Bidenand falsely blamed it on widespread fraud.
Trumphas focused particularly onmailvoting, arguing without evidence that its insecure and invites fraud even as he has shifted his position on the issue given its popularity with voters, includingRepublicans. While fraud occurs, its rare, limited in scope and gets prosecuted.
The orders documentaryproofofcitizenshiprequirement signals that the president is not waitingforcongressional Republicans to pass their long-anticipated Safeguard AmericanVoterEligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which has aimed to do the same thing.
Republicans have defended that measure as necessary to restore public confidence in elections. Voting infederalelectionsbynoncitizens is already illegal and can result in felony charges and deportation.
Voting rights groups have expressed concerns that the requirement could disenfranchise people. An estimated 9%of US citizensofvoting age, or 21.3 million people, do not haveproofofcitizenshipreadily available, according to a 2023 reportbythe Brennan CenterforJustice and other groups.
There are also concerns that married women who have changed their names will encounter trouble when trying to register because their birth certificates list their maiden names. Such hiccups happened in recent town elections in New Hampshire, which has a new state law requiringproofofcitizenshipto register to vote.
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Trump's order directsfederalagencies including the DepartmentofHomeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the State Department to share withelectionofficialsfederaldata that could help them identify noncitizens on their rolls.
It also says the attorney general should prioritize enforcementoffederalelectionintegrity laws in states that don't share information about suspectedelectioncrimes with thefederalgovernment.
The order aims to require votes to be cast and receivedbyElectionDayand saysfederalfunding should be conditional on state compliance. Currently, 18 states and Puerto Rico accept mailedballotsreceived afterElectionDayas long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National ConferenceofState Legislatures.
Trump's order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states. While Congress has the power to regulate voting and has done so to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the times, places and mannerforelections.
Colorados Democratic secretaryofstate, Jena Griswold, called the order an unlawful weaponizationofthefederalgovernment and saidTrumpis trying to make it harderforvoters to fight back at the ballot box.
Democratic Rep. Joe MorelleofNew York, the ranking memberofthe House committee that oversees elections, said the executive order is not just misguided it is immoral and illegal.
At least one Democratic attorney on Tuesday threatened legal action. Marc Elias, who has been the subjectofTrump's ire, said in a social media post: This will not stand. We will sue.
The executive branch does have some authority over elections, said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law expert and former White House senior policy adviser during the Biden administration. He said somefederalagencies provideelectionsupport, including the USElectionAssistance Commission, which distributesfederalgrant money to states and runs a voluntary certification programforvoting systems. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency helpselectionofficials protect their systems.
Former President Biden issued an executive order in 2021 directingfederalagencies to take steps to boostvoter registration, which drew complaints from Republicans who called itfederaloverreach.Trumphas rescinded that order.
Trump's order calls on theElectionAssistance Commission to amend voting system guidelines to protectelectionintegrity, including guidance that voting systems should not use a ballot that uses a barcode or QR code in the vote counting process. It said the commission should condition the funding it distributes to states on those new guidelines.
Virtually all in-person voters in Georgia, as well as voters in several other states, use voting machines with a large touchscreen to record their votes. The machines then print a paper ballot with a human-readable summaryofthevotersselections and a QR code, a typeofbarcode, that is readbya scanner to count the votes.
It is not entirely clear how the executive order would affect Georgia and the other jurisdictions that use these machines. RepresentativesforSecretaryofState Brad Raffensperger did not immediately respond Tuesday evening to messages seeking comment. Raffensperger issued a statement thankingTrumpforthe executive order, calling it a great first stepforelectionintegrity reform nationwide.
Rep. Bryan SteilofWisconsin, the chairmanofthe House committee that oversees elections, said the order is a welcome action to secure our elections and prevent foreign influence.
Mike Lindell, aTrumpally who spreadselectionconspiracies and who wants to ban voting systems in favorofhand-countingballots, fundraised off the news on Tuesday, saying in an email it will fix our sick elections.
Trump's executive order comes as the Republican National Committee launched a massive effort to probevoterregistrationlist maintenance nationwide. The committee sent public records requests this week askingfordocuments related tovoterroll list maintenance in 48 states andWashington, D.C., asserting that the public should know how states are removing ineligible people fromvoterrolls, including dead people and non-citizens.
Trumpreferencedelectionfraud as he signed the order Tuesday, saying, this will end it, hopefully. He added that moreelectionactions would be taken in coming weeks.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Originally published on France24
