Summary:
Donald Trump has signed a far-reaching executive order that promises to fundamentally disrupt American voter registration processes, introducing measures so restrictive they could in effect disenfranchise millions of citizens if enacted.
Described by Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, on Tuesday as “the farthest reaching executive action taken” in the nation’s history, the order represents the latest in a long list of assaults against immigration, but also on current voting systems.
The sweeping order amends the federal voter registration form to require proof of citizenship in order to vote. It demands documentary proof for citizenship such as a passport to be eligible to vote in federal elections, empowers federal agencies to cut funding to states deemed non-compliant and instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute what the White House paints as “election crimes”. All the executive orders Trump has signed so far Read more
The measure also seeks to block states from accepting mail-in ballots after election day, regardless of when they are mailed in.
Many of the provisions in the order are likely to be quickly challenged and are legally suspect. The US constitution explicitly gives states and Congress the authority to set the rules for election and does not authorize the president to do so.
“The short answer is that this executive order, like all too many that we’ve seen before, is lawless and asserts all sorts of executive authority that he most assuredly does not have,” said Danielle Lang, a voting rights lawyer at the non-profit Campaign Legal Center.
Republicans have long sought to add a citizenship to the federal form and been stymied by the courts. In a 7-2 decision in 2013, for example, the US supreme court said that Arizona could not require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The power to set the requirements on the federal form is left to the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission. Courts have also blocked efforts to short-circuit efforts to add the question.
The order tracks with a controversial bill in Congress Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act, which would require Americans to prove citizenship in person – a requirement that could immediately eliminate mail-in and online voter registration already across 42 states, as well as DC and Guam.
Joke’s on you. Billy Bob Joe Bob and his pig cousin Suuuuey Jane Sue Jane don’t have passports
Will?
“The short answer is that this executive order, like all too many that we’ve seen before, is lawless and asserts all sorts of executive authority that he most assuredly does not have.”
Yes. Agreed. How’s the whole shouting, “hey, this isn’t legal” working out so far? The key to having laws is also enforcing said laws. Not doing great on that part so far.
Hey, the Democratic leadership did more than shouting. They also approved the GOP budget for the next 6 months…
Hey hey hey! Don’t forget giving a rubber stamp to Trump and his butt buddies slashing whatever they want to “””fix””” the deficit!
Don’t forget the paddles! They also “slammed” Trump by holding up paddles. So brave.
Slamming Trump? That’s a paddling.
Oh my god they’re so aggressively lib, I want to throw up.
Well, it’s going to be hard to enforce when the courts rule against them. Because the states run the elections.
And then the Republican partisans in Congress will refuse to accept electors from states that don’t fall in line.
The next midterm election is this country’s absolute last chance.
So, fun fact, it’s the new Congress that deals with the electors. And if the Republicans keep this approval rating going they aren’t going to control congress on Jan 6th 2029.
Many of his deranged executive orders are actually getting halted and reversed.
The president can’t suffer consequences for disobeying a judge (apparently), but his idiotic followers sure can.
This is illegal for a litany of reasons.
Barring transit delayed mail-in ballots is 100% the way these fucks will steal the next election.
I hope Vermont doesn’t deregister me - thankfully voting administration is done by the individual states so they’ll likely push back on the EO but I’m absolutely not going to fly to Burlington to prove my identity in person.
The move really synergizes with privatizing the USPS…
I guess the one piece of good news? (Gosh it’s fucking slim) is that if there is a Democratic president in the future they can mandate national voting by mail if the SC doesn’t injunction this bullshit.
After bad faith testing the water like this over and over you should no longer be allowed to be president, seeing as you can’t follow the rules, the law, or the constitution. We can see what you’re doing. It should be over for him now.
It should’ve been over on 1/7, or at the latest 1/20 and Biden throws his ass in Gitmo for attempting a fucking coup. Nah, let’s just see how it all plays out, pretend it’s all normal and another normal election that he’s somehow allowed to run in. Soooo much failure at all levels.
This is how it happens!
Just ignore the fucking thing. It isn’t a law. Don’t pretend it is one. Don’t try and interpret it. Just ignore it.
This is the answer. Why even act on these bullshit EO? Just ignore forever. Not like Trump will get his fat ass up to enforce.
The “enforcement” will be “blue states x, y, z did not follow this rule, so their electoral college votes are invalid and will not be accepted”.
Sweet, then we can secede and form new alliances with Canada, Mexico, the EU, and the rest of the civilized world.
Solution:
Motor-voting registration in all states through the DMV. You already have to prove citizenship for Real ID. Make sure everyone getting a state ID is also registered to vote.
Then you do 100% vote by mail.
Republicans: “Wait, not like that…”
So, Colorado?
Oregon and Washington too. I think Utah too? Should be all states.
Have you tried getting a realID? It’s just as bad as getting a passport and costs a chunk of change. I’m pissed off states weren’t able to shut it down. Now you need a passport effectively to fly domestically.
I haven’t needed to because I already have both a passport and a passport card, but it’s really not that hard or expensive (at least, not here it’s not!)
The DMV already requires proof of citizenship even without Real ID, so that requirement didn’t change.
One of these:
U.S. passport or U.S. passport card
U.S. birth certificate issued by a state or local government
Certificate of Citizenship
Certificate of Naturalization
Consular Report of Birth Abroad
Permanent Resident Card
Employment Authorization Card
Foreign Passport with unexpired visa and valid I-94 issued by DHSProof of Legal Name:
Social Security Number (SSN):
Proof of Address:
TWO printed documents that show your current name and current residential (home) address.Bring $30 for the Real ID charge in addition to the other fees.
So a Drivers License is $64, a state ID is $47, a permit is $30. +$30 for Real ID.
$94 for a license with real ID.
We should subsidized that shit
How is it not a poll tax?
Because you’re paying for the drivers license and the Real ID, the voter registration is a free add-on.
Yeah that’s why I called out it costs money.
Its also kinda similar to taxes, the US pretty much already knows all this info already, yet somehow we can’t manage to make elections easy and free.
In TN, a drivers license is $28 with or without Real ID. I got it by accident.
what you suggested has been a republican talking point. wisconsin republicans admitted that they forced it into state law because it results in fewer democratic voters being able to vote.
not everyone can afford to travel (thus not everyone needs a state ID). and many can’t get to a DMV without taking time off of work that their employers may not allow even if unpaid. and many can’t even physically get to a DMV in areas with poor or no public transit. but they still have the right to vote.
So uh, only about half of Americans actually have active, valid passports.
So thats a neat trick to disenfranchise half the population, instantly.
I’m guessing the next thing will be to fire everyone involved in processing and issuing passports.
You get it.
I used to represent a lot of trade workers for a very large defense contractor. They had an employee benefits office with an 800 number for workers to call to ask about their retirement, insurance, death benefits, short and long term disability, workers comp., etc., and nobody ever answered the phone. They would change the hours every six months. Like sometimes it was only open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, then the other half of the year it was only open on Mondays. Ratfuckers.
Even better than that, the Fed can nullify your passport at any time
Also DOGE cutting the workforce that would process things like this, ensuring that people have even more trouble getting proper documentation for voting.
[insert Andy Samberg saying “cool cool cool cool cool cool…”]
Oh fuck right.
Yeah, I guess basically all trans people are now inelligible to vote, along with… yeah, basically anyone with sufficient melanation that the government decides is an immigrant, for any reason.
… Yeah this is pretty fucking bad.
Half the people in the country have passports? That’s seems WAY too high of an estimate. Even just thinking of the people I know who’s status I’m sure of, only about 10% have one, and most of those are expired.
The figure I found was just an estimate, and yes, I agree, the actual number is probably lower, but I wasn’t able to find … precise numbers.
If you live in the US, and you either never, or rarely travel internationally?
Yeah, you don’t actually have any reason to actually even go through the process and even get a passport, or keep it current.
… Well, until right now, apparently.
Fucking Glory to Arstotkza! I guess…
empowers federal agencies to cut funding to states deemed non-compliant and instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute what the White House paints as “election crimes”.
This is the bigger problem, it will allow them to “fix” elections
“Election crimes”
Being a minority and voting liberal.
Being a minority
andor voting liberal
Might need fix in quotation makes.
I added them for ESL readers, I hope native readers would know the alternative meaning of fix is influencing the outcome
❤️
The funny thing is that this could be easily mitigated if the left reached out to their neighbors and helped each other get the IDs. This can become a great opportunity to organize.
The line at every DMV at all three of the cities I have lived and worked in starts at 3 am.
To get my drivers license the first time, we had to try three times to get a testing spot. (And the first time they failed me because of my leftist bumper stickers 🙃)
I tried to get a real ID a couple years ago, and somehow my documentation wasn’t correct. They demanded my marriage license and didn’t like something about it.
Bureaucratic institutions have already not been functioning in the south.
No, it can’t. Passports take months to get and cost money, for example. Disenfranchisement of the poor.
Also, why would Trump stop here? Wannabe dictators never let opponents compete fairly. If you overcome this hurdle, he’ll just make another ruling designed to undercut your vote. That’s why we need to fight against all of his changes. The power grab itself is the existential threat, not the individual action.
You still need a reason to organize. Which other motivation could you use?
Lemme get my auction card here… I’ll show em.
He can sign as many EOs as he wants, but until he goes through the process (as if he has the attention span and focus to), gets the votes through Senate and House to make this mandatory, this means dogshit.
Congress implicitly consents. There has been no push back from Congress on any of this, even stripping funding powers from Congress themselves.
He proved this train has no brakes, but we’re still accelerating. Just wait till his attacks on judges/the judicial branch really ramp up…
“Old charlie stole the handle, the train it won’t stop rolling and it won’t slow down.”
