Trump Signs EO Creating US Voter List  04/01 06:23

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive 
order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict 
mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew legal threats from state Democratic 
officials ahead of this year's midterm elections.

   The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by 
attempting to seize states' power to run elections, is the latest in a torrent 
of efforts from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his 
false allegations of fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome 
of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, 
asserting again Tuesday that he won "three times" and citing accusations of 
voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked.

   The order signed Tuesday calls on the Department of Homeland Security, 
working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to make the 
list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal 
Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state's approved 
list.

   Trump is also calling for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique 
barcodes for tracking, according to the executive order, which was first 
reported by the Daily Caller. Federal funding could be withheld from states and 
localities that don't comply.

   "The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It's horrible what's going 
on," Trump said, repeating his false allegations about mail ballots as he 
signed the order. "I think this will help a lot with elections."

   Democratic states quickly threaten lawsuits, non-compliance

   Within minutes of Trump signing the order, top elections officials in Oregon 
and Arizona, two states that rely heavily on mail ballots, pledged to sue, 
arguing that the president was illegally encroaching on the right of states to 
run elections.

   Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the state's vote-by-mail 
system was designed by Republicans and is now used by 80% of voters. Arizona 
doesn't need the federal government to tell it who can vote, and federal data 
isn't always reliable, he said.

   "It is just wrongheaded for a president of the United States to pretend like 
he can pick his own voters," Fontes told The Associated Press. "That's just not 
how America works."

   Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the AP that the order was 
"laughably unconstitutional" and said her state would not comply. More than a 
quarter of Maine voters cast mail-in ballots in the 2024 election.

   Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said Trump's order would cripple 
local election officials charged with implementing it and silence voters 
counting on casting a mail ballot.

   "It doesn't benefit anybody in this country except himself," Aguilar said.

   Legal experts noted other potential flaws with the order. David Becker, a 
former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation 
and Research, said the Postal Service is run by a board of governors, and the 
president has no power to tell it what mail it can and cannot deliver.

   A spokesperson for USPS said Tuesday the agency will review the order. Trump 
has sought to bring the independent agency under more presidential control, 
proposing to fold it under the Commerce Department -- whose secretary, Howard 
Lutnick, was on hand for Tuesday's signing.

   Trump has long tried to interfere with state-run elections

   Trump's March 2025 election executive order sought sweeping changes to how 
elections are run, including adding a documentary proof-of-citizenship 
requirement to the federal voter registration form and requiring mailed ballots 
to be received at election offices by Election Day. Much of it has been blocked 
through legal challenges brought by voting rights groups and Democratic state 
attorneys general who allege it's an unconstitutional power grab that would 
disenfranchise large groups of voters.

   He also told a conservative podcaster in February that he wants to "take 
over" elections from Democratic-run areas.

   U.S. elections are unique because they are not centralized. Rather than 
being run by the federal government, they're conducted by election officials 
and volunteers in thousands of jurisdictions across the country, from tiny 
townships to sprawling urban counties with more voters than some states have 
people. The Constitution's Elections Clause gives Congress the power to "make 
or alter" election regulations, at least for federal office, but it doesn't 
mention presidential authority over election administration.

   "This is Donald Trump turning the Department of Homeland Security into the 
department of controlling the homeland," said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of 
the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

   The Trump administration has launched a widespread campaign it says is meant 
to target allegations of voter fraud that for years have been the subject of 
false claims from Trump and his allies. The Justice Department for months has 
been demanding detailed voter registration lists from states in what it has 
described as an effort to ensure the security of elections, and has sued when 
state officials have refused to hand them over.

   The FBI in January seized ballots from the election office of a Georgia 
county that has been central to right-wing conspiracy theories over Trump's 
2020 election loss. And Attorney General Pam Bondi recently named a "special 
attorney" with the power to investigate and prosecute cases across the country 
"relating to the integrity of federal elections," according to a copy of the 
order.

   Voting rights groups raise concerns about current verification system

   The Department of Homeland Security's SAVE system for verifying citizenship 
and immigration status has come under scrutiny for producing flawed results 
from unreliable data sets, as well as over privacy concerns. One example is 
that states can conduct bulk searches of the system with Social Security 
numbers, but few states collect full Social Security numbers as part of voter 
registration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

   The Trump administration undertook an overhaul of the system last year, but 
it still faces legal challenges alleging that reliance on the system can lead 
to errors in identifying citizenship status and affect eligible voters.

   At least one Republican elections official on Tuesday defended the SAVE 
system while downplaying the potential of widespread voter fraud.

   Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Georgia Secretary of State Brad 
Raffensperger, said their recommendations to the Trump administration have 
strengthened voter verification and stressed that "the small number flagged as 
potential non-citizens cannot vote by mail or in person until they provide 
proof of citizenship."

   "The executive order will be decided in court, but in Georgia, we already 
verify citizenship and will continue to do so regardless of the outcome," 
Sinners added.

   The president is a vocal critic of mail-in voting, alleging that the 
practice is rife with fraud as he pushes lawmakers to pass a far-reaching 
elections bill that would clamp down on it. A 2025 report by the Brookings 
Institution found that mail voting fraud occurred in only 0.000043% of total 
mail ballots cast, or about four cases per 10 million.

   Trump himself has also used mail ballots, most recently last week in local 
Florida elections. The White House has said that Trump is opposed to universal 
mail-in voting, rather than individual voters who may need the alternative 
voting method for reasons such as travel or military deployment.