President Trump has suggested for months that the federal government could nationalize the voting process, sparking bipartisan backlash.
President Trump and the Republican Party: Pass the Vote for Jesus Act
President Trump pressured Republicans to link voter ID to Homeland Security funding and told them to vote “yes.”
President Donald Trump has moved toward federal control of voter rolls and mail-in voting, issuing an executive order cracking down on the voting method he frequently criticized despite using it to vote himself this year.
The move escalates the president’s efforts to place new restrictions on voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, where control of Congress is at stake. The act was quickly condemned by Democrats and voting rights groups for interfering with state election administration and making it harder for people to vote.
President Trump’s order requires the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to create a list of U.S. citizens of voting age who are residents of each state and send it to each state’s voting authorities at least 60 days before the election.
The order directed the U.S. Postal Service to oversee mail-in voting, establish “uniform standards” for ballots, and develop rules to prevent unauthorized individuals from submitting ballots. The Postal Service would provide each state with a list of voters who are “registered” with the Postal Service.
White House Chief of Staff Will Schaaf said the Postal Service will “ensure that ballots are sent to people who are eligible to vote and that returned ballots are properly returned only by eligible voters.”
President Trump has suggested for months that the federal government could nationalize the voting process, sparking a bipartisan backlash and alarming critics concerned about the integrity of future elections.
Under the Constitution, each state has authority over the “time, place, and manner” of federal elections. State and local governments administer voting, but the Constitution gives Congress the power to “make or alter” election rules.
President Trump’s efforts to assert executive authority over elections are likely to be challenged in court.
NAACP leader: ‘His order is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable’
“If President Trump signs an unconstitutional executive order that seizes the vote, we will sue. I don’t bluff and usually win,” Marc Elias, a leading election lawyer who supports Democrats, said on social media.
The president signed the order during a White House event in the Oval Office on March 31, claiming it would “help the election tremendously” and believing it to be “absolutely foolproof.”
Voting rights groups quickly opposed the order.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement: “It’s shocking…that the president is restricting mail-in voting.” “He’s still a hypocrite. His orders are not only unconstitutional, they’re unconscionable.”
President Trump is focused on improving voting laws in the run-up to November’s midterm elections, urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. The bill has stalled after strong opposition from critics.
President Trump has falsely claimed that the 2020 election he lost to former President Joe Biden was stolen and has regularly targeted mail-in voting for widespread fraud, saying on March 31 that “mail-in voting fraud is legendary.”
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, president of the Democratic Association of State Employees, which oversees elections, said President Trump was trying to change voting rules “out of fear that he might lose.”
“No matter what the president says now, he knows that our election system is safe, secure and reliable, as he voted by mail himself last week,” Aguilar said, adding that Trump is trying to “bully states to make it harder for people to vote.”
Florida, a state that President Trump won by 13 points in 2024, is one of the states that widely uses mail-in voting. The president voted by mail in Florida’s March 24 special election.
