What Happened to Donald Trump's Executive Orders on Voting Integrity?

Upon returning to the presidency, Donald Trump initiated a series of executive actions aimed at fundamentally altering the administration of federal elections, citing concerns over voter fraud. The first major directive, titled "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections," was issued on March 25, 2025. This executive order sought to impose a requirement for 'documentary proof of citizenship' for individuals registering to vote using the federal form, a measure critics argued would disenfranchise millions of eligible citizens, particularly people of color, women, and young people, who may not readily possess such documents. It also mandated that all mail-in and absentee ballots be received by Election Day, overriding existing state laws in nearly half the states that allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received shortly thereafter. Furthermore, the order threatened to withhold federal funding from states that did not comply with its provisions and directed the Department of Justice to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of election crimes.

The March 2025 executive order immediately drew fierce opposition and legal challenges. On April 1, 2025, a coalition of civil rights and voting organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the ACLU, and the Brennan Center, filed a federal lawsuit, League of Women Voters v. Trump, arguing that the President lacked the constitutional authority to unilaterally alter election procedures, which are primarily governed by states and Congress. A federal district court quickly issued a temporary injunction on April 24, 2025, blocking the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from implementing the documentary proof of citizenship requirement. This injunction was made permanent on October 31, 2025, with the court ruling decisively that the President could not rewrite election law to impose such a burdensome requirement. The administration has since appealed these rulings.

Building on these efforts, President Trump issued another executive order on March 31, 2026, titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections." This order directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in coordination with the Social Security Administration (SSA), to create and transmit to states a "State Citizenship List" of confirmed voting-age citizens, to be updated regularly before federal elections. It also instructed the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to initiate rulemaking for new standards on mail ballots, including envelope markings and barcodes, and threatened criminal penalties for election officials and mail carriers who handled ballots from individuals deemed ineligible by the administration. This 2026 order also faced immediate legal backlash. On April 3, 2026, the New York Attorney General, joined by 22 other state attorneys general and Pennsylvania's governor, filed a lawsuit to block the order, contending it unlawfully interferes with state election systems and violates the U.S. Constitution. They sought a preliminary injunction, and the case is expected to be fast-tracked, potentially reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

Beyond these executive orders, the Trump administration has pursued other avenues to influence election administration. In May 2026, it was reported that the administration had run 67 million voter registrations through a federal database to identify ineligible voters, primarily in Republican-led states, flagging thousands of non-citizens and deceased individuals. These actions have been criticized for potentially disenfranchising eligible voters and overstepping federal authority. Most recently, on June 12, 2026, FBI agents searched the office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a group involved in voter registration efforts, seizing documents and computer files. This raid, along with other Department of Justice requests for voter rolls from numerous states, has been widely condemned by voting rights advocates and some members of Congress as an attempt to intimidate lawful civic activity and weaponize federal agencies in an election year.

Concurrently, President Trump also reinstated and amended Executive Order 13957, originally issued in October 2020, which created "Schedule F" in the excepted service for federal employees. Revoked by President Biden, Trump reinstated it as "Schedule Policy/Career" (EO 14171) on January 20, 2025, and further amended it on June 3, 2026, to transfer approximately 8,000 senior policy-influencing positions into this category, stripping some civil service protections. While distinct from direct voting regulations, this move is seen by critics as part of a broader strategy to consolidate presidential control over the federal bureaucracy, which could indirectly impact election-related agencies. As of June 18, 2026, the legal battles over both the voting-specific executive orders and the federal workforce changes continue, shaping the landscape of election administration and federal governance.