Progressive organizations heavily criticize the recent decision, branding it a manipulation to undercut voters without straightforward access to official identification.
Trump’s order, issued on Tuesday, instructs the Election Assistance Commission to enforce the production of a US passport or other official government ID for voter registration in federal elections.
Additionally, the order compels all US states to receive votes exclusively by Election Day, disqualifying any mail-in ballots that arrive after the polls’ closure.
Trump expressed hope that his order will curb electoral fraud while reiterating his unfounded claim that he triumphed in the 2020 presidential election decisively.
“At least this will go a long way toward ending it, there are other steps that we will be taking in the coming weeks, and we think we will be able to end up getting fair elections,” Trump stated as he endorsed the order at the White House.
“This country is so sick because of the election, the fake elections, and the bad elections, And we’re going to straighten it out, one way or the other,” he affirmed.
Trump’s executive measure continues a lengthy pattern of challenging suspected electoral manipulation, such as voting by non-citizens – an act strictly forbidden and statistically proven as scarcely occurring.
Trump has frequently disputed the outcomes of elections that didn’t favor him, including his 2020 loss to former US President Joe Biden, falsely pinning it on pervasive electoral irregularities.
Democrats and progressive groups have long opposed Republican-driven initiatives demanding voter ID, arguing that impoverished and senior citizens may face barriers in acquiring such identification attributes.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, called Trump’s order a “glaring assault on democracy” and “an oppressive grab of authoritarian power”.
“Donald Trump’s executive order would undermine our election systems, suppress the votes of millions of Americans, particularly impacting voters of color, and possibly fuel further baseless allegations of election fraud,” Gilbert said in a statement.
Richard Hasen, a professor of law at the University of California who manages Election Law Blog, also condemned the move, stating it will disenfranchise potentially millions of voters.
“This directive will only deter a minimal amount of non-citizen voter registration but will obstruct millions of eligible voters, who lack easy access to documentation such as passports, from registering to vote,” Hasen said on his blog.
“The objective here is nothing but voter suppression, plain and simple,” Hasen concluded.
