President Donald Trump signed a decree this Tuesday (31) that requires citizenship verification in United States federal elections and establishes stricter rules for voting by mail. According to the White House, the measure seeks to prevent ineligible people from participating in the federal electoral process and possible fraud.
The decree requires the federal government to create a national list of American citizens aged 18 or over eligible to vote, based on data from bodies such as Social Security and the Department of Homeland Security. According to the text, this list will be sent to states before each election to help check voter eligibility.
The name on the list does not replace voter registration. According to the decree, citizens will still need to register to vote following the rules of their state, in addition to complying with any local requirements to have their vote validated. According to the White House, states will be able to access, correct and complement this information.
Regarding voting by mail, the decree establishes that ballots can only be sent to voters previously registered on a specific list for this type of voting. According to the text, the objective is to avoid sending votes to people who did not request or are not eligible for this model. Furthermore, according to the presidential order, all votes sent must use official envelopes identified as electoral material and with tracking codes, allowing the shipment to be tracked and increasing the security of the process.
The decree also directs the Department of Justice to prioritize investigations against authorities, organizations or individuals who distribute ballots to people who are not eligible to participate in the electoral process. According to the text, the federal government will be able to withhold resources from states that do not comply with the new rules, within the limits of the law.
Members of the Democratic Party stated that the decree is “unconstitutional” and promised to challenge it in court. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s main rivals, also said the state intends to take the case to court.
Currently, the United States Supreme Court is analyzing a case that could redefine the rules for voting by mail in the country. The Court’s conservative justices recently indicated support for a rule championed by the Trump administration to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, in a lawsuit that challenges state laws that allow late arrival of such ballots. The decision on this case is expected by the end of June, before the November mid-term legislative election.
