Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 that would add proof of citizenship to voter registration forms, prompting multiple lawsuits that are working their way through the courts. Beyond that, a draft executive order to declare a national emergency to allow Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who say they are in coordination with the White House. The White House has denied it. Who are you going to believe?
Trump raised alarms by suggesting Republicans should “nationalize” elections and wrote on social media: “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”
The constitutional firewall
The good news is that the U.S. Constitution gives both states and Congress responsibility for regulating federal elections — the president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration. State and local officials are charged with administering elections, serving voters, and counting ballots. Courts have been actively enforcing this. A 2025 executive order from Trump, which sought to require proof of citizenship for voter registration, has been halted by federal judges who say the order’s provisions exceed a president’s authority.
What you can do
Here are concrete actions, from individual to collective:
Make sure you’re registered and stay registered. Check your registration status regularly at vote.gov, especially if new rules take effect. Don’t assume your registration carries over automatically.
Vote in person if you can. With mail-in voting under pressure, in-person voting is harder to block. If you do vote by mail, return it as early as possible — don’t wait until close to Election Day.
Support and donate to voting rights organizations that are actively litigating these issues: the Brennan Center for Justice, Democracy Docket (which tracks every voting rights lawsuit in real time), the ACLU, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. These groups are the ones actually blocking the illegal orders in court.
Contact your state officials. State and local election officials have vowed to protect voters’ rights, with Maine’s Secretary of State saying “I am confident we will have safe, free and secure elections in 2026, but it is going to be up to state and local election officials.” Your state attorney general and secretary of state matter enormously here — let them know you’re watching and want them to push back.
Sign up to be a poll worker. Election administration happens at the local level, and having engaged, trained citizens involved is a direct form of protection.
Stay informed through Democracy Docket (democracydocket.com), which tracks every legal challenge to voting restrictions in real-time. It’s the best resource for understanding what’s being blocked and what isn’t.
Push your U.S. Senators to block the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act narrowly passed the House but faces an uphill battle in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the 60-vote threshold to clear the filibuster. Senate opposition is the legislative choke point right now.
Trumps strategy of issuing orders and letting courts sort them out creates real harm in the delay, but courts have been moving quickly on this, and the constitutional structure genuinely does limit presidential power over elections more than in most areas of policy.
Do not believe what you hear on the news, after all TRump does say it’s Fake News. So keep up to date on what is happening.
Voting Rights under Attack
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 that would add proof of citizenship to voter registration forms, prompting multiple lawsuits that are working their way through the courts. Beyond that, a draft executive order to declare a national emergency to allow Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who say they are in coordination with the White House. The White House has denied it. Who are you going to believe?
Trump raised alarms by suggesting Republicans should “nationalize” elections and wrote on social media: “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”
The constitutional firewall
The good news is that the U.S. Constitution gives both states and Congress responsibility for regulating federal elections — the president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration. State and local officials are charged with administering elections, serving voters, and counting ballots. Courts have been actively enforcing this. A 2025 executive order from Trump, which sought to require proof of citizenship for voter registration, has been halted by federal judges who say the order’s provisions exceed a president’s authority.
What you can do
Here are concrete actions, from individual to collective:
Make sure you’re registered and stay registered. Check your registration status regularly at vote.gov, especially if new rules take effect. Don’t assume your registration carries over automatically.
Vote in person if you can. With mail-in voting under pressure, in-person voting is harder to block. If you do vote by mail, return it as early as possible — don’t wait until close to Election Day.
Support and donate to voting rights organizations that are actively litigating these issues: the Brennan Center for Justice, Democracy Docket (which tracks every voting rights lawsuit in real time), the ACLU, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. These groups are the ones actually blocking the illegal orders in court.
Contact your state officials. State and local election officials have vowed to protect voters’ rights, with Maine’s Secretary of State saying “I am confident we will have safe, free and secure elections in 2026, but it is going to be up to state and local election officials.” Your state attorney general and secretary of state matter enormously here — let them know you’re watching and want them to push back.
Sign up to be a poll worker. Election administration happens at the local level, and having engaged, trained citizens involved is a direct form of protection.
Stay informed through Democracy Docket (democracydocket.com), which tracks every legal challenge to voting restrictions in real-time. It’s the best resource for understanding what’s being blocked and what isn’t.
Push your U.S. Senators to block the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act narrowly passed the House but faces an uphill battle in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the 60-vote threshold to clear the filibuster. Senate opposition is the legislative choke point right now.
Trumps strategy of issuing orders and letting courts sort them out creates real harm in the delay, but courts have been moving quickly on this, and the constitutional structure genuinely does limit presidential power over elections more than in most areas of policy.
Do not believe what you hear on the news, after all TRump does say it’s Fake News. So keep up to date on what is happening.
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