President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order targeting mail-in voting and voter eligibility, calling the move a major step toward restoring confidence in U.S. elections.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said the order is focused on "voter integrity and Mail-In ballots" and on "stopping the massive cheating that’s gone on."
"We’re going to be signing an executive order," Trump said. "It’s, I believe it’s foolproof… I think it’s very obvious what’s said."
The order directs federal agencies to work with states to compile lists of eligible voters using federal citizenship and identity data, while also instructing the U.S. Postal Service to develop new safeguards for mail-in ballots, including barcode tracking and verification measures.
Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) working with the Social Security Administration and other federal databases, will create and share "State Citizenship Lists" with state election officials.
The lists are intended to identify individuals confirmed to be U.S. citizens who will be at least 18 years old by the time of a federal election and who reside in that state.
Those lists are to be updated and transmitted to states ahead of federal elections, according to the order.
The order also directs the attorney general to prioritize investigations and potential prosecutions involving officials or others who issue ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in federal elections, as well as those involved in the "printing, production, shipment, or distribution of ballots" to ineligible voters.
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On mail ballots, the executive order calls on the postmaster general to initiate a rule-making process within 60 days. Proposed changes include requiring ballots to be clearly marked as official election mail, including a unique Intelligent Mail barcode or similar tracking technology, and undergoing Postal Service design review.
The order also outlines a system under which states would notify USPS if they plan to use mail-in or absentee ballots and provide lists of eligible voters, allowing the Postal Service to maintain participation records tied to ballot distribution.
Trump framed the changes as a direct response to what he described as longstanding vulnerabilities in voting by mail.
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"The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary," he said. "It’s horrible what’s going on."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the administration is pushing for a system that ties each ballot to a trackable envelope.
"If you voted by mail, you will have it on the envelope," Lutnick said. "There’ll be a million envelopes… and you’ll be able to know exactly correctly, that citizens voted."
Trump said additional election-related measures, including voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements, are also under consideration.
"We’d like to have voter ID, we’d like to have proof of citizenship… we’re working on that," he said.
He also argued that opposition to such measures is politically motivated.
"The only people that don’t want to do voter ID are people that cheat," Trump said.
Trump acknowledged the order could face legal challenges but said he believes it will withstand them.
"I don’t know how it can be challenged," Trump said after signing the order. "You may find a rogue judge… but that’s the only way that could be changed."
The executive order states that voting in federal elections is reserved "exclusively for citizens of the United States" and argues that additional safeguards are necessary to "maintain public confidence in election outcomes." It also says that ballot identifiers such as barcodes can help ensure that only eligible voters receive and cast ballots.
Within minutes of Trump signing the order, top elections officials in Oregon and Arizona pledged to sue, arguing the president was illegally encroaching on states’ authority to run elections, according to The Associated Press.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the state’s vote-by-mail system, originally designed by Republicans, is now used by about 80% of voters.
Arizona does not need the federal government to determine voter eligibility, and federal data is not always reliable, Fontes said.
Trump cast the issue in much broader terms.
"If you don’t have honest voting," he said, "you can’t have really a nation."
