Wed Mar 26 03:00:00 UTC 2025: **Trump Issues Controversial Executive Order on Election Administration**
Washington D.C. – President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on Tuesday aimed at altering election procedures nationwide, sparking immediate backlash from voting rights experts. The order targets mail-in voting and citizenship verification, raising concerns about potential disenfranchisement of legitimate voters.
The order mandates that all states reject ballots not received by Election Day, a move seemingly targeting states that allow for late-arriving ballots with postmarks before Election Day. This clashes with existing state-level variations in ballot acceptance deadlines, which currently range from requiring receipt by Election Day to accepting ballots postmarked by Election Day but arriving later.
Legal scholars question the president’s authority to implement several aspects of the order, arguing that it exceeds his executive powers. The order directs the Justice Department to enforce the Election Day receipt requirement, despite ongoing legal battles and the lack of explicit federal law prohibiting states from accepting timely postmarked ballots received after Election Day.
Furthermore, the order compels the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to add proof of citizenship to the national voter registration form. Experts argue this is an attempt to circumvent Congress and implement a provision similar to the Republican-led SAVE Act, which mandates proof of citizenship for federal elections. This requirement could disproportionately affect low-income Americans and create a significant hurdle to voter registration.
The order also empowers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with the help of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), to potentially subpoena states for voter roll reviews to ensure federal law compliance. Non-compliance could result in the loss of federal funding for states.
President Trump justified the order by citing concerns about election fraud, a claim that has been repeatedly refuted by election officials and experts who cite the extremely rare occurrences of such fraud. Leading election law experts have voiced strong concerns about the legality of the executive order, questioning the President’s authority to direct the EAC and predicting legal challenges. They argue that the order’s provisions are largely unlawful and unlikely to be fully implemented. The order’s potential impact on voter registration and access to the ballot box is expected to be significant and heavily contested in the courts.
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