President Trump has issued a new executive order aimed at preventing noncitizen voting in federal elections. The order requires proof of citizenship for those registering to vote using federal forms, which could include passports, military IDs or state-issued identification cards that indicate citizenship status.
The executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security to make its databases available to state and local officials who wish to check their voter rolls for noncitizens. Additionally, Mr. Trump has ordered Homeland Security and the Department of Government Efficiency to review states’ voter lists, while instructing the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue cases of noncitizen voting and other forms of voter fraud.
The order also targets states that allow mail-in ballots to be collected and counted after Election Day, with the White House describing these measures as the most vigorous voter-protection actions in decades. President Trump emphasized the importance of preventing illegal vote dilution to determine rightful election winners.
This move intensifies the ongoing battle over election rules, with Republicans generally supporting stricter voting requirements like voter ID laws, while Democrats often favor more lenient rules to expand voter participation. Mr. Trump has previously cited election fraud as the reason for his 2016 popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton and his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, though voting experts maintain that any fraud in these elections was not substantial enough to affect the outcomes.
The president had previously attempted to address noncitizen voting in 2017 by creating a commission to study the issue, but it was disbanded after encountering difficulties obtaining data and facing numerous lawsuits. He also tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, an effort halted by the Supreme Court.
Voting rights groups have vowed to challenge the order in court, arguing that a president cannot unilaterally set election law. Critics like Virginia Kase Solomon of Common Cause have characterized the executive action as an attempt to restrict voting rights.
Some Republican-led states have already attempted to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls, though these efforts sometimes inadvertently affected U.S. citizens. The Biden administration previously challenged several such GOP-led initiatives, while Mr. Trump’s new order effectively reverses those priorities.
Read more: Trump signs order cracking down on noncitizen voting, voter fraud
This article is written with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence based solely on Washington Times original reporting and wire services. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Ann Wog, Managing Editor for Digital, at awog@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
