Trump signs a new executive order on voting. Experts say he lacks the authority

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

March 31, 2026 7:43 PM ET


President Trump has escalated his efforts to reshape American elections, signing an executive order that seeks to create lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and instructs the U.S. Postal Service to play a larger role in states' mail voting programs.

Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday that he believes the order is "foolproof" and may or may not be tested in court. But election experts said the order was unconstitutional and prominent voting rights attorneys quickly threatened to sue to block the order from going into effect.

A previous executive order on elections, signed about a year ago, has been blocked by federal judges who said the president lacked the constitutional authority to set voting policy. The Constitution says the "Times, Places and Manner" of federal elections are determined by individual states, with Congress able to enact changes. Trump has long railed — baselessly — about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and fraud with mail ballots. The new executive order — which was first reported by The Daily Caller — takes aim at both.

The order instructs the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to "compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/31/nx-s1-5508948/trump-voter-list-mail-ballots-executive-order

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He's apparently panicking.

Article updated.

Original article -

March 31, 2026 5:54 PM ET


President Trump has escalated his efforts to influence American elections, signing an executive order that the White House says seeks to create a list of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and use the U.S. Postal Service to "verify" mail ballots are for voters.

Speaking just now, Trump said he believes the order is "foolproof." But election experts have already said the order -- which was first reported by The Daily Caller -- would face immediate legal challenges.

A previous executive order on elections, signed about a year ago, has been blocked by federal judges who said the president lacked the constitutional authority to set voting policy. The Constitution is clear that states run their own elections, with Congress able to set policy. Trump has long railed -- baselessly -- about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and mail voting fraud.

The executive order comes as Trump's Justice Department is seeking sensitive voter data from states, and is engaged in more than two dozen lawsuits for that data. The administration claims it needs the data to enforce states' voter list maintenance.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This order is a joke and will be struck down

[Trueblue1968]

8. It is time to. #LockUpTrump

[Irish_Dem]

27. So what? Trump doesn't care.

Who will stop him?

[Initech]

2. We need to make it so future admins can't allow shady think tanks like the Heritage Foundation to abuse EO privileges.

[dweller]

3. fool proof ?

just proves he’s a fool

🫤



✌🏻

[Captain Zero]

5. If done, the minute there is the slightest discrepancy

He will declare all elections null and void.
If he needs a list have his party get it in each individual state.

This is bullshit to be involving the post office in it.

[wnylib]

23. Maybe it is a setup,ike his multiple challenge cases in 2020

as a means of casting doubt on election results.

If Dems win the House (and the Senate?), he will claim voter fraud and expect people to believe him because he'll have the idea planned already with this executive order, even if it loses in court.

[TomSlick]

11. Corollary to Murphy's Law.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

[MLWR]

4. Elections are run by the states.

DonOLD needs to stay in his lane and butt the f**k out.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Democracy Docket-Trump signs sweeping order attacking mail-in voting

This executive order will be struck down

Link to tweet

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-signs-sweeping-order-attacking-mail-in-voting/

Under the Constitution, states run elections and only Congress can set national standards.

“This is a massive and unconstitutional voter suppression effort aimed at giving Trump the power to create a list of who is allowed to vote by mail,” Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket, said Tuesday. “We know where this will go — the targeting of Democrats for mass disenfranchisement. We will sue and we will win.”

Legal challenges to the new order are expected swiftly.

“It’s obvious the president didn’t learn anything from his first failed executive order,” David Becker, a leading election law expert, told Democracy Docket. “This is unconstitutional on its face. The Constitution clearly gives the president no power over elections.”

Becker said he expects courts to move quickly to block the order, as they did with earlier attempts.

“I expect that this will be blocked by multiple federal courts in a very short period of time and have no legal effect whatsoever,” he said.

He also pointed to contradictions between the administration’s recent legal arguments and the apparent scope of the new order, particularly around the creation of a national voter list.

“After the Department of Justice has been telling courts they’re not creating a national voter list, this appears to confirm exactly what courts were concerned about,” Becker said.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. "Becker said he expects courts to move quickly to block the order"

And make sure one gets filed in the D.C. district with the hope that Boasberg gets it because he's already royally pissed with this administration!

[Volaris]

17. Im pretty sure thats where it will get filed...have a hard time

trying to convince even Cannon that her court in Florida has jurisdiction over an executive order signed in DC lol

As an aside, that dude should be pretty high on anyone's list for promotion when this is over...he's been a rock star.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. It's expected to be filed in multiple district courts

but the D.C. district is an obvious venue given the national scope of the order.

And Boasberg already is "promoted" - he is the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court (he had replaced Beryl Howell, who was eligible to move to "Senior" status in that court, and was rotated out, where she was another "rock star" during a lot of litigation in that court).

[orangecrush]

29. The courts have a choice

Strike it down

Or the people will.

[oasis]

7. Hey Trump, I gotcha executive order right here

🖕🏼

[popsdenver]

10. Putin & Orban?

win their elections in a landslide with 85+% of the votes in their countries.

You can bet your sweet asses that Putin has been advising the Republicans/Trump how it is done, starting in 2015......

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. There's a wee bit o' difference in how elections are run and votes counted in Russia and Hungary compared to the US

So I’m not sure any advice from Putin would be applicable, unless Trump start throwing opponents out of 10th story windows…

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. Trump knows the SAVE act will never pass

Marc Elias from Democracy Docket says this EO is unconstitutional and unenforceable, and he expects it to be blocked by multiple courts in the next few days.

[Bluetus]

21. Without a doubt. Just a reminder,

EO's only have effect as instructions to executive branch employees. EOs cannot direct states, Congress, the courts, corporations, or individuals to do anything.

This one is written in the form of a directive to executive branch employees. But it is a direction for them to perform an illegal act. And even if it is not struck down, it must be ignored by states because it has no legally binding authority on them and undoubtedly would violate many state election laws.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. He thinks he can rule by decree.

[Amaryllis]

15. Our wonderful Oregon AG Dan Rayfield has already filed a lawsuit. And our SOS is working on one.

[AverageOldGuy]

16. "compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list . . . '

A list that each state chief election official will toss in the shitcan.

[reACTIONary]

31. Exactly!

[BadgerKid]

18. Next up: voter registration data breach,

Followed by feeding the data into AI tools for orchestration of whatever outcome is needed.

[Bristlecone]

19. Laying more groundwork to tie up courts, cause confusion, and perhaps most importanlty

Get our shitty media to talk about it nonstop, and not only act as if it is up for discussion, but suggest it is open for valid debate.

And The Ministry of Truth(Fox, OAN, etc tc) will spread the validity opinion until the cows come home.

[ffr]

20. Very worrying. 🤬

[hibbing]

22. "efforts to reshape American elections"

Efforts to prevent people from voting, there, I fixed it.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

24. This is where the cultists get confused

when we say, 'he thinks he's a king, doing stuff like that. The Constitution says elections belong to the states, precisely for this reason." and they say 'Huh?'

[pfitz59]

25. It will be blocked within days

One more illegal power grab.

[FloridaBlues]

26. That's why he's suing states for their voter rolls.I expect multiple lawsuits.

Things going bad for him so he creates a new problem daily.

[orangecrush]

28. Here we go.

[FakeNoose]

30. Kings don't need voter rolls, nor do they waste time on elections

Why is Chump doing this?

Because HE KNOWS HE'S NOT A KING! He knows the voters don't want him and won't listen to him. He just gave away the whole game when he signed this law. It's going to be shot down in court, and then he has NOTHING!

[Bobstandard]

32. Can't help wondering I'd be on the approved list.

Just because I’ve voted legally for 7 decades, have a passport, was born in a stateside US military hospital, and now look a lot like Benjamin Franklin, doesn’t mean I’d be eligible to vote this time.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. He's shitting himself something fierce

He knows he's going to lose.

[mackdaddy]

34. So people never move or change names?

So who keeps up these records for updates, changes or corrections?

What happens if there are errors?

Basically this all just duplicates the current voter registration system already in place.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. MaddowBlog-Trump's elections power-grab on mail-in voting is likely to fail, but it's not irrelevant

It might be tempting to brush off the president’s executive order as pointless political theater. But it’s not quite that simple.

It might be tempting to brush off Trump’s latest elections power-grab as pointless political theater since the executive order will fail in the courts.

But when a president becomes the nation’s most serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process, it matters.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-01T12:58:44.338Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-elections-power-grab-is-likely-to-fail-but-that-doesnt-mean-its-irrelevant

As March came to an end, the Republican again ignored his own country’s policymaking process, again decided to circumvent Congress and again signed an executive order giving himself sweeping authority over the country’s elections systems. MS NOW reported:

Trump’s order requires the Department of Homeland Security … to create a list of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. DHS would be expected to rely on information provided by the Social Security Administration, according to the Daily Caller, which first reported the Trump administration’s plans.

The U.S. Postal Service would then use that database to send absentee ballots to voters identified as eligible for mail-in voting, according to a White House fact sheet. The ballots would be mailed in envelopes with special codes only to voters enrolled in state-specific absentee ballot programs.

.....If Trump’s policy is ridiculous, and its failure in the courts appears inevitable, it might be tempting to brush off his latest gambit as pointless political theater.

But it’s not quite that simple. For one thing, the latest power-grab is part of a comprehensive effort to undermine public confidence in the nation’s electoral system and sow doubts about election results that Republicans don’t like. The president has played an instrumental role in fueling unnecessary public skepticism, and his executive order is likely to make a bad situation worse.

For another, Trump continues to position himself as the nation’s single most serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.

On Tuesday morning, The New York Times published an op-ed by Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who made a convincing case that the most pressing danger to our elections isn’t coming from abroad; it’s coming from the White House.

“For months, President Trump has made his intentions clear,” the senator wrote. “He has called for the federal government to ‘take over’ elections, impose national rules and override state authority. Now we are beginning to see how he may plan to do this.”

Later that same day, the president helped prove Warner right.