Tìm kiếm

Thực đơn

Hướng dẫn

Explainer: Trump’s Executive Order Attacking Voting Rights

By: Dan Vicuna

SUMMARY  

  • What’s happening: On March 25, 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order attacking Americans’ voting rights that seeks to solve a problem that does not exist by exerting authority he does not have. Trump is attempting to order an independent agency he does not control to make it harder for Americans to register to vote and seeks to empower DOGE to dig around our voting records. 
  • Why it matters: Donald Trump is attempting to disenfranchise millions of Americans by creating unnecessary barriers to voting simply to perpetuate the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. 
  • Our position: Voting should be accessible to all eligible Americans. This executive order would create new bureaucratic hurdles that make it harder for our citizens to register to vote and cast a ballot that counts. Election administration should focus on expanding access to the ballot, not gift wrapping our freedoms and handing them to Trump’s billionaire friends. 

The Big Lie 

Any effort by Donald Trump to make it harder for Americans to vote must always be viewed in the context of his bruised ego. Being the sitting president of the United States is insufficient to ease the pain of losing the popular vote in 2016 and the presidency in 2020, so he insists on inventing an excuse. We know this because of the complete lack of evidence that unlawful voting is a problem. In fact, voting by an ineligible person is so exceedingly rare that there is no evidence in a single modern election at any level of government, including 2016 Và 2020, that it has even come close to impacting the outcome. The risk of felony charges is sufficient to convince the public that casting a single unlawful vote among many is simply not worth the risk. 

Trump has already demonstrated how far he will go to soothe his ego and maintain power. On January 6, 2021, Trump was willing to incite a treasonous riot at the U.S. Capitol and end a 160-year streak in which power was transferred peacefully between presidents. Given this fact, it is unsurprising that he would also strengthen his big lie about the 2016 and 2020 elections by threatening the voting rights of millions of Americans. 

New Red Tape for Americans Registering to Vote 

Trump’s “order” purports to force the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to require those who use the national mail voter registration form to submit documentary proof of citizenship. Question 6 of this form already allows states to specify an identification number such as the applicant’s driver license or the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number. Although most Americans register to vote using state forms and not the federal form Trump sought to alter, it is still an unlawful power grab and an attack on voting rights.  

The most glaring legal problem with this executive order is that Trump lacks any authority to change the rules of federal elections. The U.S. Constitution empowers states and Congress to determine the “Times, Places, and Manner” of federal election with no mention of the president. In addition, the EAC was created to be an independent agency that is no way under the control of the president. The EAC consists of two Democrats and two Republicans, with official actions requiring the agreement of three of four commissioners. 

In addition, the contents of the federal voter registration form are established by federal law and must be changed by federal law, not presidential fiat. Trump could sign an executive order “requiring” the mayor of New York to paint the Statue of Liberty the same shade of gold as his Mar-a-Lago bathroom fixtures, but that doesn’t mean he has any authority to do so.  

Aside from fatal legal flaws, this executive order would demand proof of citizenship that most Americans do not have. The executive order lists passports, REAL IDs, military IDs, and other undefined federal or state IDs that indicate citizenship status. Here are the challenges:  

Throwing Away Lawful Mail Votes 

Casting a ballot by mail is a widespread reform aimed at providing a flexible option for people who may not be able to vote in person or simply prefer to do so in the comfort of their own homes. Twenty-eight states allow all voters to request a mail ballot. An additional 14 states allow voters to request a mail ballot if they provide an allowable excuse under state law. Trump’s executive order seeks to throw away these mail ballots if they happen to arrive after Election Day even if they are mailed on or before Election Day. The order calls on the attorney general of the United States to take “all necessary action” against states that count these ballots in federal elections.  

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia currently count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day. This makes sense since the speed of mail delivery should not dictate an American’s right to have their vote counted. The president’s executive order would create an arbitrary rule that disenfranchises millions of Americans against the wishes of 18 jurisdictions of all political stripes with no logical justification related to improving election integrity. 

Taking a Chainsaw to Voter Registration Records 

Another provision of this executive order requires the Department of Homeland Security to work with Elon Musk’s DOGE to pry into states’ voter registration records. So far, DOGE’s track record is dominated by loud proclamations of cutting waste in government that turned out to be wrong and were then corrected as quietly as possible. This includes, according to an NPR report, a typo causing a calculation to be $8 billion off, triple counting a USAID project it cut, and cancelled contracts that were never actually cancelled. Several weeks ago, the DOGE website deleted the top five largest money-saving projects it claimed to be responsible for after determining they were all wrong. If Donald Trump has his way, our voting rights will be the next target of DOGE’s sloppy work.