Trump orders states to require proof of citizenship in federal elections

Election experts said Trump was claiming power he doesn't have and said lawsuits over the measures were all but guaranteed.

The Washington Post

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requiring people to provide documents proving they are citizens when they register to vote, a mandate that could prevent millions of Americans from voting.

Election experts said Trump was claiming power he does not have and said lawsuits over the measure were all but guaranteed.

“This executive order is unlawful,” said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “The president does not have the authority to require this. The president cannot override a statute passed by Congress that says what is required to register to vote on the federal voter registration form.”

With the measure, Trump also sought to withhold federal election funding from states who do not comply with his directive.

Trump’s order directs the Election Assistance Commission to change the federal voter registration form to require voters to provide government-issued documentary proof of citizenship. Under his order, voters could use passports or REAL IDs to prove citizenship but not birth certificates. Weiser and others said if put into effect the measure would disenfranchise millions of people who don’t have such easy access to documents proving their citizenship.

“The aim here is voter suppression pure and simple,” UCLA law professor Rick Hasen wrote on his blog.

Like Weiser, Hasen questioned the legality of the measure because the president does not oversee the Election Assistance Commission.

The order also attempts to bar states from counting mail ballots that election officials receive after Election Day. Last year, 18 states allowed mail ballots that arrived after Election Day to be counted as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.