An election worker sorts mail-in ballots in Reno, Nev., on November 5, 2024.
Godofredo A. Vasquez/AP
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Godofredo A. Vasquez/AP
President Trump stepped up his efforts to overhaul US elections on Tuesday, signing an executive order that seeks to create a list of US citizens eligible to vote in every state, and directing the US Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believed Order is legally “stupid”. but the election experts said the order was unconstitutional, and voting rights advocates and Democratic state officials immediately Mortgage To sue to stop the order from taking effect.
A previous executive order on elections, which was signed about a year ago, has been Blocked by federal judges Who said that the President does not have the constitutional right to set voting policy.
the constitution says The “time, place, and manner” of federal elections are determined by the individual states, with Congress able to make changes.
“This executive order is an egregious overreach on the part of the federal government and shows how little the Trump administration understands about election administration,” Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in a statement Tuesday. “We will not let this order stand without a fight and will take the federal government to court,” he said.
Arizona is one of more than two dozen states Trump’s Justice Department has sued over access to sensitive voter data.
The Trump administration claims it needs the data to enforce states’ maintenance of voter rolls. Federal judges in three states have rejected Justice Department lawsuits in those states.
In another case, a DOJ official admitted in court last week that the department planned to share that voter data with the Department of Homeland Security so it could be run through the so-called SAVE system to search for non-citizens.
NPR has reported that some US citizens have also been falsely flagged by SAVE.
How the executive order seeks to change voting
Trump has long been baselessly critical of widespread illegal voting by non-citizens and fraud involving mail ballots.
The new executive order — first reported by The Daily Caller — takes aim at both.
It directs the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to “compile and transmit to the chief election officer of each state a list of persons confirmed to be citizens of the United States, who will be over the age of 18 years at the time of the upcoming federal election, and who will maintain residence in the subject state.”
According to a White House fact sheet, the order “requires the USPS to transmit ballots only to individuals enrolled on state-specific mail-in and absentee participation lists, ensuring that only eligible absentee or mail-in voters receive absentee or mail-in ballots.”
Trump’s executive order claims “additional measures are necessary” to secure voting by mail, a form of voting he himself has used. including last week But he was also falsely maligned for years. In the general elections of 2024, about a third of all voters Cast postal ballot.
The order says the Postal Service must also review the design of mail ballot envelopes to protect “the integrity of federal elections.”
Collectively, the provisions would be a significant change to how mail ballot programs in U.S. elections are currently administered, which are largely handled by state and local officials.
The Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for expanded voting access and sued to block Trump’s 2025 election executive order, said in a statement, “Our government’s citizenship lists are incomplete and inaccurate. The United States Postal Service is overly burdensome and inadequate. It equates a car accident with a train wreck.”
Rick Hasen, election law expert at UCLA, wrote on my blog This order is possibly unconstitutional. And regardless, he added, “The timing here makes it almost impossible to get it implemented in time for the November elections. … It looks like none of this could be implemented for 2026, even if it’s not blocked by the courts.”
The order comes as Trump pressures Republicans in Congress to pass the Save America Act, a sweeping election change that would impose new voter identification and documentation requirements.
That bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and a legislative filibuster.
The Supreme Court is also expected to rule this year on whether Mississippi should be allowed to count mail ballots that are postmarked for Election Day but received by election officials after Election Day.
The legal challenge, which could have wide-ranging effects on mail voting nationwide, was filed by the Republican National Committee and Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
With reporting from Ben Swasey
