Trump executive order boosts proof of citizenship requirements for voting in federal elections

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday seeking to boost proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, which critics say could disenfranchise poor and older voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents like passports or birth certificates.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday seeking to boost proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, which critics say could disenfranchise poor and older voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents like passports or birth certificates. Republican state lawmakers have long sought to require such documents for voter registration, but a major hurdle has been a Supreme Court ruling mandating that states accept, at least for federal elections, the generic voter registration form offered by the US Election Assistance Commission, which currently does not require documents proving citizenship. Trump’s order directs the EAC to add the requirement and to withhold election funding from states that don’t enforce the requirement for voters who use the federal form to register. The EAC is currently made up of two Democratic and two Republican appointees. “The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is carefully reviewing the President’s Executive Order and determining the next steps in enhancing the integrity of voter registration and state and federal elections,” EAC Chairman Donald Palmer said in a statement. “We also anticipate consulting with state and local election officials.” The order also instructs the Department of Homeland Security to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to review state voter rolls in an effort to identify foreign nationals on the rolls, and to turn over that list to the state and local officials tasked with managing elections. The directive is likely to raise alarm bells among voting rights advocates who have argued that DHS immigration databases are not equipped for vetting voter rolls without proper guardrails, as they pose a risk of identifying naturalized citizens for purges.