President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he intends to sign an executive order mandating voter identification requirements in elections across the United States, as reported by Fox News.
The announcement came in a post on Truth Social, where the President also outlined additional measures aimed at election reform.
“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!! Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military. USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!” Trump wrote.
The President’s announcement follows earlier efforts this year to impose similar requirements through executive order as part of a broader election integrity push.
Kollar-Kotelly, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, ruled that Trump did not have the authority to issue such an order because the Constitution gives Congress and the states power over election regulations.
“Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her decision.
“No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
Despite the court setback, polling indicates strong public support for voter ID and proof-of-citizenship measures. According to a Gallup survey conducted ahead of the 2024 elections, 84% of U.S. adults favored requiring voters to present identification at the polls.
The same poll showed that 83% of respondents supported requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time.
Support for voter ID cuts across party lines. Gallup found that 67% of Democrats, 84% of Independents, and 98% of Republicans backed requiring ID to vote. On proof of citizenship, 66% of Democrats, 84% of Independents, and 96% of Republicans supported the requirement.
Trump has repeatedly said that voter ID laws are critical to ensuring election security and preventing fraud.
His latest announcement signals that he intends to continue pressing the issue through executive action, even as courts and Congress debate the scope of presidential authority in regulating elections.
The White House has not yet released details on the timing of the new order or how it would be implemented, but Trump’s statement indicates that both voter ID and limits on mail-in voting remain top priorities for his administration’s election reform agenda.
