Trump Signs Executive Order on Elections Overhaul

President Trump signed a sweeping executive action Tuesday to overhaul elections in the US, including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day. The order says the US has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections" and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don't comply. Trump says more election actions will be taken in the coming weeks.

• The move, which is likely to face swift challenges from voting rights organizations, is consistent with Trump's long history of railing against election processes, the AP reports. He often claims elections are being rigged, even before the results are known, and has waged battles against certain voting methods since he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and falsely blamed it on widespread fraud.

• Trump has focused particularly on mail voting, arguing without evidence that it's insecure and invites fraud even as he has shifted his position on the issue given its popularity with voters, including Republicans. While fraud occurs, it's rare, limited in scope and gets prosecuted, reports the AP. The Wall Street Journal notes that it's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and studies have found no evidence of ineligible people voting in numbers large enough to affect election outcomes.
• The Guardian describes many of the provisions in the order as "legally suspect" because the Constitution gives states and Congress, not the president, the authority to set election rules.
• "The short answer is that this executive order, like all too many that we've seen before, is lawless and asserts all sorts of executive authority that he most assuredly does not have," says voting rights lawyer Danielle Lang at the Campaign Legal Center nonprofit.

(More elections stories.)