Earlier today, Tuesday March 26th, President Donald Trump signed a particularly polarizing executive order. This order mandates that Identification proving American citizenship be shown when voting, or registering to vote. The order also mandates all votes be tallied by Election day.
The order would require government-issued proof of citizenship on all voter registration forms. It also orders the attorney general to partner with state election officials to consolidate information, in order to identify any voter fraud, or any election law violations.
Additionally, the order places conditions on federal funds given to states to assist with elections, only allotting funds to those states who are in compliance with these regulations.
It would also require that states accept, count, and tally votes by election day. This means any absentee ballots submitted after election day would be invalid. It would not invalidate all absentee ballots. Only those received after the cutoff.
This would take the unpredictability out of vote counts, and any last minute surge of votes tipping the scales would be a thing of the past. There are currently 18 states, as well as the Puerto Rican territory that do accept mail-in ballots after election day, so long as they are post-marked on or before election day. Those would no longer be accepted as valid votes after this executive order.
Trump commented on signing the order, “There are other steps that we will be taking in the coming weeks. We think we’ll be able to end up getting fair elections.”
Free, Fair, and Honest Elections Are The Goal
“It’s an honor to sign this one,” Trump says. “I sign all of them, but to sign this one is a great honor.”
“Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic,” the order states. “Yet the United States has not adequately enforced Federal election requirements that, for example, prohibit States from counting ballots received after Election Day or prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote.”
Election experts were quick to respond, both in favor and against. The pro side outcrying that this is long overdue, the con side saying this action would disenfranchise millions of voters.
Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state, Jena Griswold, declared the order an “unlawful” weaponization of the US government. She also said Trump is “trying to make it harder for voters to fight back at the ballot box.”
Several Republican lawmakers and election officials quickly applauded Trump’s move, including Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia. The state’s barcode-based vote tallying system doesn’t currently match standards Trump called for in the order. They would need to change in order to not jeopardize the state’s federal funding.
“Thank you, President Trump, for this executive order ensuring that only American citizens decide American elections,” Raffensperger said. “This is a great first step for election integrity reform nationwide.”
Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House committee overseeing elections, said the order is a “welcome action to secure our elections and prevent foreign influence.”
Does this order actually solve a problem that exists with Federal elections? Possibly. But does having this law truly stand in the way of voting? Knowing that it is the law, that you need to Identify yourself in order to take part in the democratic process of voting? Who would this stop from voting? Besides those who shouldn’t be?
While this is just another blip in the road to most of us, hardly worth bothering about, some will take any opportunity to fight about practically anything. What’s next, picketing against court dress code? Petitioning the removal of drivers license testing? Hopefully the next thing to contest will be something worth bothering over.
