Documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, new voting system guidelines, and the review and recertification of voting machines were just a few of the sweeping changes mandated by the president’s executive order.
The independent Election Assistance Commission is responsible for enacting those changes.
Meanwhile, at the federal agency’s annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, members of the commission’s Standards Board peppered commissioners with questions about what that would entail.
Paul Lux, an elections supervisor in Okaloosa County, Florida, asked how voting machine companies could be expected to comply with the new standards when the commission has yet to certify a system per its current guidelines, which were last revised in 2021.
“And they’re going to what, ramp up production and provide voting equipment and all that for all 50 states and five territories?” Lux asked.
An election official from Utah questioned how adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the commission’s national mail voter registration form might affect Native American communities.
The commissioners encouraged officials to share their concerns with them.
“Wherever we end up in this process, my goal is to provide the least disruption to the states, to mitigate any impact on you and your voting systems,” said Donald Palmer, chair of the Election Assistance Commission.
“Under the Constitution, state governments must safeguard American elections in compliance with Federal laws that protect Americans’ voting rights and guard against dilution by illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error,“ Trump wrote. ”Yet the United States has not adequately enforced Federal election requirements that, for example, prohibit States from counting ballots received after Election Day or prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters, and NAACP said the president’s order is unlawful.
“Only Congress, not the President, can alter or supersede state procedures governing federal elections, including voter registration procedures. Forcing states to require documentary proof of citizenship would therefore require congressional action,” the organizations wrote in a March 27 letter to the Election Assistance Commission.
Those voting rights groups and the Democratic Party have challenged the executive order in court, arguing that it oversteps Trump’s authority as president.
The judge noted that Congress is currently considering legislation that would enact several of the changes the president directed. “And no statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
