President Trump has issued an executive order purporting to overhaul the nation’s election law by decree. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.
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Walter Olson
On March 25, President Donald Trump published an executive order purporting to overhaul the nation’s election system. Among its contents: requiring voters who use the federal registration form to furnish documentary proof of citizenship, preparing the way for decertifying commonly used voting equipment, and nullifying state laws that accept as valid some military and other mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day. It directs the Department of Homeland Security, in tandem with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to use subpoenas if necessary to gain access to state voter registration lists and list maintenance methods and scrutinize each “for consistency with Federal requirements.” States would also be told to hand over what information they had about election law violations to the feds for use by the latter. Funding cutoffs are contemplated for states that don’t cooperate.
