A federal judge has blocked an executive order (EO) from President Donald Trump that sought to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Friday.
The article said several Democrat state attorneys general challenged the order as unconstitutional, saying it “usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.” The AP also noted the EO required officials to accept only mailed ballots that came in by Election Day.
The initial executive order that was signed on March 25 required potential voters to show documents proving their citizenship, such as a passport, when they went to register in their state, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported at the time. States that did not comply were in danger of losing some federal election funding.
“The White House defended the order as ‘standing up for free, fair, and honest elections’ and called proof of citizenship a ‘commonsense’ requirement,” according to the AP report.
In her order on Friday, Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said the Constitution does not give the president specific powers when it comes to elections.
“Casper also noted that, when it comes to citizenship, ‘there is no dispute (nor could there be) that U.S. citizenship is required to vote in federal elections and the federal voter registration forms require attestation of citizenship,’” the AP article said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act cleared the House of Representatives in early April, and the act requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, according to Breitbart News.
The report said:
The SAVE Act effectively amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
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“Despite the ridiculous attacks and purposeful misinformation spread about the bill, I am pleased to see that the House of Representatives once again passed the SAVE Act on a bipartisan basis to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections,” Roy said of the measure passing through the House.
Days after the SAVE Act passed the House, Roy told Breitbart News that Democrats were still trying to block efforts to bar non-citizens from voting.
“The bottom line is, only American citizens should vote in American elections. We ought to fix that. The SAVE Act’s one way to do it. The President’s right to try to do it by executive order. We should supplement that as well while Democrats are blocking our efforts with our bill,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in May signed legislation to advance an effort to prevent non-citizens from voting in his state, Breitbart News reported.
“The action comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s national effort to clean up voter rolls,” the article stated.
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