US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order requiring voters to prove their citizenship before casting ballots, a move likely to spark legal challenges and deepen partisan divisions over voting rights.
The order, which also seeks to bar states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, threatens to withhold federal funds from states that fail to comply.
“We’ve got to straighten out our elections,” Trump said at the White House while signing the order. “This country is so sick because of the elections, the fake elections and the bad elections. We’re going to straighten that out one way or the other.”
The move follows years of Republican efforts to tighten voting restrictions, citing concerns over election security. However, voting rights groups and Democrats argue that such measures disproportionately affect people of colour and other marginalized communities.
The White House stated that the order would prevent foreign nationals from influencing US elections. Under the new directive, voters will be required to answer a citizenship question on the federal voting form for the first time.
Additionally, the order mandates that the Department of Homeland Security provide states with access to systems verifying the citizenship or immigration status of individuals registering to vote. It also empowers officials to subpoena voter registration lists to ensure compliance with federal law.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has already begun requesting public records from 48 states and Washington, DC, to scrutinize how they maintain their voter registration lists.
"Voters have a right to know that their states are properly maintaining voter rolls and quickly acting to clean voter registration lists by removing ineligible voters," RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said.
Criticism and legal challenges
Voting rights activists and civil liberties groups have strongly criticized the executive order, calling it an attempt to suppress voter turnout.
“This is a blatant attack on democracy and an authoritarian power grab,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of advocacy group Public Citizen.
According to research by the Brennan Center for Justice, approximately 21.3 million eligible US voters, or 9 percent of the voting population, lack readily available proof of citizenship. Moreover, around 146 million Americans do not possess a passport, which could make compliance with the new requirement challenging.
The order also targets states that allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted, a practice permitted in 18 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.
Legal experts predict a wave of lawsuits challenging the order, particularly on grounds that it could violate the 14th and 15th Amendments, which guarantee equal protection under the law and prohibit racial discrimination in voting.
The move comes as Trump, who continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat to President Joe Biden was due to widespread fraud, prepares for a rematch in the upcoming 2024 election.
Despite repeated investigations finding no evidence of significant voter fraud, Trump and his Republican allies have persisted with claims that non-citizens illegally participate in US elections—a notion that election officials and experts say is unfounded.
Democrats, who have pushed for expanded mail-in voting and early voting access, are expected to mount fierce opposition to the order in both the courts and Congress.
