President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday directing the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of eligible voters in every state and ordering the U.S. Postal Service to craft rules limiting the delivery and return of mail-in ballots to individuals on those lists.
“I think this will help a lot with elections,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday while speaking in the Oval Office. “We’d like to have voter ID. We’d like to have proof of citizenship.”
The executive order, expected to face legal challenges from Democrats, effectively creates a federal voter verification system. It orders DHS to partner with the Social Security Administration to compile a list of verified citizens eligible to vote in every single state using federal records. The list will be sent to state election officials at least 60 days before a federal election.
Trump’s order also directs the Postal Service to design rules for handling mail-in and absentee ballots. Ballots would be mailed back in specially designed envelopes with barcodes for easy tracking. Under the proposed framework, ballots would not be sent or returned through the mail unless the voter appears on a DHS-verified list.
Add your first comment to this post