As part of his wide-ranging use of executive orders, President Donald Trump turned his attention to state election administration, a move that quickly prompted voting rights groups and others to promise lawsuits.
The order seeks to compel states to require proof of citizenship to vote and takes aim at mail-in balloting in states that allow ballots to arrive after Election Day to be counted.
Critics say a provision requiring documentary proof of citizenship would disenfranchise millions of legal voters, including the majority of married women who adopted their spouse’s surname, as the name on the identification would not match the birth certificate.
Since 2016, Trump has pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about elections, which only increased after he lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
Voter fraud is extremely rare, and, even when it does happen, is often caught before the votes are tabulated.
The executive order said the federal government would withhold federal funds for states that do not comply.
A spokesman for the New Mexico Secretary of State told NM Political Report Tuesday that the office was still digging into the executive order.
“It is important to emphasize, though, that elections are the constitutional purview of the states, except for narrowly focused congressional actions,” Secretary of State spokesman Alex Curtas said. “The public should anticipate legal efforts to oppose this executive order.”
Curtas said the SOS’ office is “working closely with the New Mexico Department of Justice to analyze the impact of this executive order on New Mexico’s voters and election administrators.”
Wednesday, the League of Women Voters of the United States slammed the executive order, with the group’s CEO Celina Stewart calling it “an assault on our republic and a dangerous attempt to silence American voters.”
The group’s chief counsel, Marcia Johnson, said the order is “plainly unlawful.”
“The League is committed to working with our partners and legal advocates to pursue all avenues in fighting back against this dangerous order, and we will use every tool at our disposal to defend voters from unjust restrictions on their freedom to vote,” Johnson said.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the executive order “a significant overreach of executive power” that “poses a direct threat to the fundamental right to vote.”
“We will do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional attack on the right to vote to ensure that every eligible American can participate in our democracy,” ACLU Voting Rights Project Director Sophia Lin Lakin said. “We will see President Trump in court.”
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