Trump signs order requiring citizenship proof in US federal elections

President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the US, including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day.

Experts swiftly denounced his executive order as an abuse of presidential power that could ultimately prevent millions of Americans from casting ballots, and rights groups already have vowed to challenge it in court.

The order on Tuesday consists of 11 sections, according to the White House: Purpose and Policy, Enforcing the Citizenship Requirement for Federal Elections, Providing Other Assistance to States Verifying Eligibility, Improving the Election Assistance Commission, Prosecuting Election Crimes, Improving Security of Voting Systems, Compliance with Federal Law Setting the National Election Day, Preventing Foreign Interference and Unlawful Use of Federal Funds, Federal Actions to Address Executive Order 14019, Severability and other general provisions.

The order said the US has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections" and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes.

It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don't comply.

Trump has focused particularly on mail voting, arguing that it's insecure and invites fraud even as he has shifted his position on the issue given its popularity with voters, including Republicans.

The order's documentary proof of citizenship requirement signals that the president is not waiting for congressional Republicans to pass their long-anticipated Safeguard American Voter Eligibility 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 in federal elections by noncitizens 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 percent of US citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, do not have proof of citizenship readily available, according to a 2023 report by the Brennan Center for Justice 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 requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Other provisions

Trump's order directs federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the State Department, to share with election officials federal data that could help them identify noncitizens on their rolls.

It also says the attorney general should "prioritise enforcement of federal election integrity laws" in states that don't share information about suspected election crimes with the federal government. 

The order aims to require votes to be "cast and received" by Election Day and says federal funding should be conditional on state compliance. Currently, 18 states and Puerto Rico accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Trump's order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states.

It also calls on the Election Assistance Commission to redraw its guidelines for voting systems, including to prioritise those that give voters a paper record of the ballot they cast.

It said the commission should condition the funding it distributes to states on those new guidelines, which could affect states like Georgia, which use a barcode-based vote tallying system.

For law professor Richard Hasen of the University of California, Los Angeles, this "dangerous" executive order could "potentially disenfranchise millions of voters."

On his Election Law blog, Hasen calls Trump's directive "an executive power grab," and notes that federal elections are largely the responsibility of the states, with Congress setting rules for the conduct of elections.

The Brennan Center, a nonprofit public policy institute, denounced the executive order, posting on X that it "would block tens of millions of American citizens from voting. Presidents have no authority to do this."

Trump's executive order comes as the Republican National Committee launched a massive effort to probe voter registration list maintenance nationwide. The committee sent public records requests this week asking for documents related to voter roll list maintenance in 48 states and Washington, D.C., asserting that the public should know how states are removing ineligible people from voter rolls, including dead people and non-citizens.

Trump referenced election fraud as he signed the order on Tuesday, saying, "This will end it, hopefully." He added that more election actions would be taken in the coming weeks.

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Source: TRT