US President Donald Trump has signed an executive decree which aims to revise the American federal elections, including by forcing voters to show proof of citizenship and to limit when states can receive ballots by mail.
Experts warn this decision could deprive the millions of Americans who do not easily have access to a passport or other legal documents proving that they have the right to vote.
We do not know how enforceable order is, since US states have a large legal latitude to determine how they organize their elections. He should be challenged in court.
The order, entitled “Preserving and protecting the integrity of the American elections”, was signed Tuesday by Trump in the White House.
“Electoral fraud. You heard the term. We will end it, I hope.
The order indicates that the United States has failed “to apply the basic and necessary electoral protections” and calls on states to cooperate with the White House or to risk losing access to federal financing if it does not need proof of citizenship.
It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in the elections.
The Immigration Reform Act and the responsibility of illegal immigrants from 1996 prohibits non-citizens from voting in the federal elections.
Each state is required to use a common registration form which obliges people to confirm that they are American citizens, under penalty of perjury for false complaints, but do not require documentary evidence.
Experts say that there have been very few cases of immigrants illegally voting in the US elections.
The ordinance also seeks to prohibit states from accepting postal voting ballots received after election day. Currently, 18 states authorize the ballots after election day as long as they were sent by post at the latest on the day of the vote.
The order would withdraw federal funding from the American states which do not comply.
Trump was accused of having propagated the disinformation of the elections, in particular by saying that “millions” of illegal immigrants voted during his first electoral campaign. He also continues to deny that he lost the 2020 elections against Joe Biden.
Previous efforts to adopt a law on the identification of voters in the congress failed.
Democrats who have criticized similar previous reform attempts have stressed statistics showing that a large number of Americans have no improved driving or passport license for ID.
The legal basis of the order should be challenged before the court.
“The president cannot be over a law adopted by the congress which says what is necessary to register to vote on the registration form of federal voters,” said Wendy Weiser, of the Brennan Center for Justice of New York University, at Washington Post.
UCLA law professor Rick Hasen, said on his blog that the elections are widely directed by each government of the individual state, and that if it is authorized to stand, order would radically transferate power to the federal government.
