Donald Trump, who claims he never lost an election that wasn’t rigged or stolen, issued an executive order last week declaring his authority to determine which American citizens can vote, how they vote, when they vote and how results are tabulated — issues the Constitution empowers states to address.
“The United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations,” said the March 25 executive order, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.”
Trump’s order:
- Prohibits states from counting ballots received after election day. Currently, a number of states allow mail-in votes to be counted if postmarked by election day.
- Prohibits foreign nationals from registering to vote or voting in federal elections, something already prohibited by federal law.
- Requires states to insure non-citizens don’t vote by requiring documented proof of citizenship — something millions of American voters do not currently possess.
- Gives states access to Social Security and other federal databases to screen for prohibited voters.
- Requires states to produce “a voter-verifiable paper record allowing voters to efficiently check their votes to protect against fraud or mistake.”
- Punishes states that don’t comply by cutting off federal funds.
- Claims the Biden administration “actively prevented states from removing aliens from their voter lists.”
Constitutional experts say Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose the changes he seeks.
Constitutional experts say Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose the changes he seeks, and his executive order has already inspired three lawsuits:
- One by Democratic groups (including the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association)
- Two by voter rights groups (including the Campaign Legal Center, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union)
The Washington Post summarized Trump’s effort to take over the nation’s elections: “The order is illustrative of how the president is attempting to govern, largely through dictates rather than legislation. It is rooted in Trump’s long-standing, though false, claims that the election system is rife with fraud. Its legal foundations are questionable. But like other executive orders the president has signed, it could produce chaos and change before it is fully litigated.”
Experts say requiring documented proof of citizenship could disenfranchise millions of citizens. Poorer and/or minority voters who traditionally vote for Democrats may not possess such documents.
Trump’s executive order was issued five days before he told NBC News that he was “not joking” about wanting to seek a third presidential term, which is a violation of the 22nd Amendment, which states, “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”
Trump said there were “methods” he could use for securing a third term, including having JD Vance run for the office and hand it to Trump if elected.
Trump’s critics say his only interest in voting is to make sure he never loses again, and they say disenfranchising millions of voters is part of a long-term GOP strategy to increase their electoral changes by suppressing voting.
The 2024 election was the first in 20 years in which Republicans won the popular vote. Trump received 77 million votes, 2.3 million more than Kamala Harris.
But Republicans have struggled to attract voters in the 2000s.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore received half a million more votes, but lost the electoral vote to George W. Bush. And in 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote over Trump by nearly three million votes.
Trump has a long history of disputing elections that fail to deliver his preferred results.
When Ted Cruz beat Trump in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, Trump said Cruz had “stolen” the race.
In the weeks before the 2016 election, Trump already was claiming Hillary Clinton had “rigged” it. Then Trump won the 2016 electoral vote, but claimed against all evidence that he won the popular vote, too, saying Clinton had the help of millions of illegal voters.
In 2020, Joe Biden won over Trump by 7 million votes — the biggest Democrat win since Barack Obama beat John McCain by 9.5 million votes in 2008.
Trump continues to claim he won the 2020 election, which he said was “rigged,” and is now using the power of the Oval Office to turn these falsehoods into law.
This post was originally published on here
