US President Donald Trump has signed a new sweeping executive order that could change the face of future US elections.
According to the Federal Register, since 78-year-old Trump’s inauguration on January 20, the Republican has signed almost 100 Executive Orders (E.O.).
These include renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, an order eradicating the Department of Education, and one that could have a massive impact on medical patients.
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His latest document however has divided critics, with some experts claiming the move could disenfranchise millions of Americans who hope to vote in the next presidential election.
On Tuesday, Trump signed a new E.O., entitled: ‘Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections’.
“Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,” the legislation reads.
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“India and Brazil, for example, are tying voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship.”
The Trump Administration has stated that political votes must remain ‘free, fair, and honest’ and ‘unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion’, remarking it is the ‘right’ of American citizens to have their votes ‘properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution’.
This newly-signed sweeping executive order therefore requires all eligible voters to show ‘documentary proof of US citizenship’ when registering to vote in federal elections.
Acceptable forms of ID include: US Passports, identification documents compliant with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005s, official military identification cards, and other valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification.
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If the E.O. comes into play and you’re a US Citizen who doesn’t have one of these forms of ID, you will not be able to vote in future Elections.
The new order also demands individual states work with federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, to share voter lists and prosecute crimes via a common registration form.
It’s understood this could help identify noncitizens on their rolls.
The Associated Press writes that this new legislation threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply, thus changing the face of how elections take place.
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Another outline featured in the order is that all mail voting ballots must ‘cast and received’ by election day.
Currently, 18 states and Puerto Rico allow ballots to be received after election day as long as they were mailed on or before the day of the vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said on his blog that if the ‘executive power grab’ is allowed to stand, the order would radically shift power to the federal government.
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Amid the E.O. signing at the White House, Trump told reporters: “Election fraud. You've heard the term. We're going to end it, hopefully. At least this will go a long way toward ending it.”
Previous efforts to pass a voter ID law in Congress have failed, meaning the Trump Administration’s latest move is likely to be challenged in court.
Speaking out about the new E.O., Wendy Weiser, from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University told the Washington Post: "The president cannot override a statute passed by Congress that says what is required to register to vote on the federal voter registration form.”
Meanwhile, Jena Griswold, Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state, told AP that the order was ‘unlawful’, making it ‘harder for voters to fight back at the ballot box’.
Topics: Donald Trump, Election, Politics, Republicans, US News
Ella Scott