Trump executive order takes aim at voting by undocumented migrants

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that aims to stop voting by undocumented immigrants. 

The president signed and issued the "​Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections" order Tuesday.

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. 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 Democrat Joe Biden and falsely blamed it on widespread fraud.

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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.

What they're saying:

"Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic," Trump said in the order. "The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election."

Several Republican lawmakers and election officials quickly applauded Trump’s move, including Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia. The state's barcode-based vote tallying system doesn't match standards Trump called for in the order and would need to change in order to not jeopardize the state's federal funding.

"Thank you, President Trump, for this executive order ensuring that only American citizens decide American elections," Raffensperger said. "This is a great first step for election integrity reform nationwide."

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Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House committee that oversees elections, said the order is a "welcome action to secure our elections and prevent foreign influence."

What's in the order?

Dig deeper:

In the order, Trump requires the Election Assistance Commission to require proof of citizenship for federal voting registration.

It also limits mail-in voting, and ensures ballots are received by Election Day. 

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Trump has directed federal agencies to assist states in verifying voter eligibility by providing access to immigration and social security databases. 

The order also enhances prosecution of election fraud, restricts foreign influence in elections, and prioritizes paper-based voting methods for security. 

Additionally, it revokes prior policies promoting expanded voter access and conditions federal funding on state compliance with election integrity standards.

Are undocumented migrants voting?

Voting by noncitizens is rare. Yet Republican officials have highlighted voter registration reviews that turned up potential noncitizens.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said that more than 6,500 potential noncitizens have been removed from Texas voter rolls since 2021, including 1,930 with "a voter history" who have been referred for investigation by the attorney general’s office. Texas has almost 18 million registered voters.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, said that he referred for potential prosecution 138 apparent noncitizens found to have voted in a recent election and 459 more who registered but did not vote. Those figures were higher than reviews from previous years but a small fraction of the more than 8 million registered voters in Ohio.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, announced that 3,251 people previously identified as noncitizens by the federal government are being switched to inactive status on the state’s voter registration rolls. They will be required to provide proof of citizenship and fill out a form to vote in November. Alabama has more than 3 million registered voters.

In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger found that 1,634 potential noncitizens tried to register to vote between 1997 and 2022, though election officials flagged them and none was registered. Georgia registered millions of other voters during that time.

Some election administration experts have said the voter roll reviews show that current tools to flag noncitizen voters are working.

Opposition to executive order

The other side:

Voting rights groups have expressed concerns that the requirement could disenfranchise people. An estimated 9% of U.S. citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, do not have proof of citizenship readily available, according to a 2023 report by the Brennan Center for Justice and other groups.

There are also concerns that married women who have changed their names will encounter trouble when trying to register because their birth certificates list their maiden names. Such hiccups happened in recent town elections in New Hampshire, which has a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

What's next:

Trump's executive order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states. While Congress has the power to regulate voting — and has done so to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act — the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the "times, places and manner" for elections.

Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state, Jena Griswold, called the order an "unlawful" weaponization of the federal government and said Trump is "trying to make it harder for voters to fight back at the ballot box."

ElectionPoliticsDonald J. TrumpImmigrationNews