President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that looks to force sweeping changes on how elections are conducted across the nation including establishing new voter identification requirements to prove U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections.
The order, which is expected to face legal challenges by voting rights groups, comes as Trump continues to push baseless claims of voter fraud to argue the 2020 election was stolen from him despite his victory in the 2024 election.
Non-U.S. citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections. But under the order, the national mail voter registration form will require that applicants provide either a U.S. passport, a REAL ID driver’s license or state-issued card compliant with REAL standards, or a “valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification.”
The order directs states and local election officials to record and verify the documents proving U.S. citizenship and threatens to withhold federal election-related funds from states that do not comply.
The directive also takes aim at mail-in voting ‒ a practice Trump has long criticized ‒ by instructing his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to “take all necessary steps” to ensure states don’t count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day.
Trump’s order seeks to dramatically shift authority over elections to the executive branch of the federal government. Although the federal government provides technical assistance and funding, federal elections are run entirely at the county level, overseen by secretaries of state.
“This country is so sick because of the the fake elections and the bad elections, and we’re going to straighten it out one way or the other,” Trump said before signing the order. “It’s an honor to sign this one.”
Trump also ordered Bondi to enter into “information-sharing agreements” with state election officials to target individuals who have committed election fraud, registered to vote despite being ineligible, provided false information on voter registration forms and intimidated or threatened election officials or voters.
In addition, the order updates federal elections standards for voting systems by requiring all ballots produce a voter-verifiable paper record to prevent fraud or mistakes.
“We believe that this executive order is the farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections,” Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, said to Trump after handing him the order to sign.
Thirty-six states currently require voters to provide some form of identification at the polls to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislations, while 14 states, mostly controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia do not have such restrictions.
Voting-rights groups warn that voter identification requirements, long championed by Republicans, can make it harder for eligible seniors, minorities, low-income and students to vote.
“This executive order, if it could survive the inevitable judicial challenge, would severely shift power over federal elections into the hands of the Presidency,” wrote UCLA law professor Rick Hasen on Election Law Blog. “This would prevent only a tiny amount of noncitizen voter registration but stop millions of eligible voters, who do not have easy access to documents such as passports from registering to vote.”
Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, slammed Trump’s order as a “blatant overreach that threatens to disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible voters.”
“This measure will no doubt disproportionately impact historically excluded communities, including voters of color, naturalized citizens, people with disabilities, and the elderly, by pushing unnecessary barriers to the fundamental right to vote,” Lakin said.
With his signature, Trump also revoked former President Joe Biden’s “Promoting Access to Voting” 2021 executive order, which had instructed federal agencies to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and obtain information about the electoral process.
Scharf said the Biden-era order “essentially weaponized government to corrupt and pollute our election process.”
