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Kit Maher
,

Fredreka Schouten

Updated 27 min ago
Updated Mar 31, 2026, 7:35 PM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 31, 2026, 6:17 PM ET

Donald Trump

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President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony for an executive order on mail ballots, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 31.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that the White House says is aimed at cracking down on mail-in voting.

“It’s about voter integrity, we want to have honest voting in our country because if you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have really a nation,” Trump said after signing the order in the Oval Office.

It’s not clear what authority Trump is relying on to carry out the order — given that states, not the president, have broad authority to run elections. Trump has repeatedly and baselessly argued that US elections are rife with fraud and has sought to require proof of citizenship to vote.

Trump acknowledged the order could be legally challenged by a “rogue” federal judge, but he added, “I don’t see how anybody can challenge it.”

The order also directs the Homeland Security Secretary, in coordination with the Social Security Administration Commissioner, to compile and transmit “State Citizenship Lists” to the chief election official of each state.

“The State Citizenship List shall be derived from Federal citizenship and naturalization records, SSA records, SAVE data, and other relevant Federal databases,” the order states. “The State Citizenship List shall be updated and transmitted to State election officials no fewer than 60 days before each regularly scheduled Federal election, or promptly upon request by a State in connection with any special Federal election.”

Experts note that noncitizen voting in federal elections already is illegal and is exceedingly rare. Foreigners who cast ballots in presidential or congressional elections risk prosecution and deportation if caught.

White House aide Will Sharf said Tuesday that the order will use federal data to verify eligible voters and direct the United States Postal Service to take new measures to verify that mail-in ballots are being sent to eligible voters and properly returned.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said states will be required to receive a bar code from the USPS that will be placed on mail-in ballot envelopes.

“The states run these elections — if they want to use the US mail, the US Postal Service, they’re going to get a code, a bar code, from the US Postal Service and they’re going to put that on the envelope and we’re going to have one envelope per vote,” Lutnick said, standing behind Trump in the Oval Office.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the order, calling it “an unlawful power grab” and vowed to fight the move.

“The Constitution is clear. Donald Trump has no power to change the way states conduct their elections,” Jeffries said in a statement. “We will fight back against this desperate Republican scheme to take over our free and fair elections and end the era of voter suppression in America once and for all.”

In recent weeks, the president has demanded that Congress pass a proof-of-citizenship requirement and other changes to election law as part of a bill dubbed the “Save America Act,” but it has failed to gain traction in the Senate.

Trump, who has declared voting by mail cheating, defended his own vote by mail in a recent Florida special election, saying, “Because of the fact that I’m President of the United States.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.