From the EPEC Team newsletter:
Latest Executive Order directs U.S. Postal Service to increase mail-in security measures, also withholds funds from states that refuse to enforce federal election laws.
The White House has issued a new Executive Order on elections that targets mail-in ballot fraud, and offers states innovative solutions to ensure only citizens are registered to vote in federal elections.
The Executive Order of March 31 is the second major EO on election security that President Donald Trump issued to address years of lax voter-roll maintenance in many states.
“The Federal Government has an unavoidable duty under Article II of the Constitution of the United States to enforce Federal law, which includes preventing violations of Federal criminal law and maintaining public confidence in election outcomes.”
It directs the U.S. Postal Service to begin rule-making to “ensure that secure ballot envelope identifiers provide a reliable, auditable mechanism to enforce Federal law without unduly burdening or infringing on the rights of eligible voters.”
Bar Codes to Thwart Mail-in Ballot Fraud
The order directs the U.S.P.S. to add bar codes on outer security envelopes (which would carry the mail-in ballot-envelope inside) to confirm that “only citizens receive and cast ballots, reducing the risk of fraud and protecting the integrity of Federal elections.”
Although many states have been adding bar codes to outer envelopes to help voters track their mail-in ballots, many have not. The EO adds a major directive to the U.S.P.S. to improve its reliability. Since the supposed temporary shift to mail-in balloting across states to accommodate the Covid pandemic, the postal service has struggled to meet its newfound role in the chain of custody of mail-in ballots.
In Virginia, for example, one in four mail-in ballots on average fails to be returned or returned on time.
Any groups, such as foreign nationals, even drug cartels notorious for ballot trafficking in states such as California, would have to contend with modernized ballot-tracking systems that can detect fake or counterfeit ballots being sent through the mail.
The EO also directs the Attorney General to ramp up investigations, and possible prosecutions of state and local officials, or any third parties, who issue federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in a federal election.
Cross-Checking Federal Citizenship Lists
In at least 19 states, anyone who interacts with the Department of Motor Vehicles is automatically enrolled to vote via the “Motor Voter” provisions in the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). It is established fact that millions of noncitizens are being swept into the voter rolls — even if they check “no” on the honor system currently in place for attesting citizenship and eligibility to register.
The latest EO is taking a unique approach to helping states identify and remove noncitizens by offering State Citizenship Lists that would be culled from federal citizenship and naturalization records, including Social Security Administration records and other federal databases. Updated lists would be transmitted to state election officials no fewer than 60 days before an election, or by request from state officials.
It also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to create procedures for individuals to update and correct their voter information. State officials’ input, suggestions and modifications are welcome, too.
Cue the Outrage
Within minutes of the EO appearing on the White House website, uber-Democrat activist Marc Elias immediately claimed he would sue. Other groups are likely to follow after forum shopping for partisan judges.
Partisan District Court judges in Washington have issued injunctions on parts of President Trump’s prior Executive Order issued in March of 2025.
That EO directed federal agencies to help states identify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls to ensure only eligible citizens are registered to vote.
Election expert and leader of the Election Integrity Network Cleta Mitchell said at the time the EO was “carefully crafted to direct federal agencies to take steps aimed at enforcement of existing federal law, to help states implement those statutes – in keeping with the language of those laws.”
The Democratic National Committee, the League of Women Voters Education Fund, and the League of United Latin American Citizens filed suit against Executive Order 14248, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” Democrat AGs also piled on with litigation.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the D.C. District Court, notoriously hostile to the Trump administration, consolidated most of the litigation before she issued temporary pauses on parts of the order, such as preventing EAC commissioners from modifying the federal voter registration application form … to require documentary proof of United States citizenship.
A flurry of cross-motions and motions for summary judgement proceeded for close to a year, effectively slowing the White House’s efforts to shore up election security. However, appeals of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s injunctions are about to move forward. [See LULAC v. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-946].
The latest EO arrives on the eve of the Supreme Court’s hearing on President Trump’s January 20, 2025, Executive Order blocking automatic American citizenship to children born to foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally. The case is up on Wednesday, April 1.
At the White House today, President Trump said the Democrat left’s excuses about potential impact on citizens’ voting rights just don’t wash anymore. Preventing noncitizens from registering and voting, plus photo ID to cast a ballot enjoy wide support among all Americans. The SAVE America Act, still in the Senate, does that.
The current EO provides details to protect the voting rights of citizens who are eligible to vote, and directs the U.S.P.S. to do more to thwart mail-in ballot fraud, which ensures that citizens’ votes are not diluted.
(EPEC Team has documented thousands of noncitizens who leave a voting history, a Class 6 felony, before they self-declared themselves ineligible and were removed from the rolls.)
Partisans were issuing hyperbolic statements about voter suppression, and ignoring the very real issue of vote dilution from mail-in ballot fraud, and noncitizens automatically rolling onto voter rolls to create opportunities for fraud.
For now at the very least, a new EO on elections will ensure that voting integrity, voter-roll integrity, and thwarting ballot fraud, remain at the forefront of the national debate over restoring trust in election systems. See the current EO here. #