Trump Signs Order Changing Election Rules: What That Means For PA

PENNSYLVANIA ? President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order overhauling U.S. elections, including requiring proof of citizenship to register and vote in federal elections. The move is almost certain to be challenged because the Constitution gives states broad authority over elections.

Trump?s order, which also requires that all ballots be received by Election Day, says the nation has ?failed to enforce basic and necessary election protections.? It calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes, and threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don?t comply.

Pennsylvania allows voters to register to vote using their driver's license. If they don't have a driver's license, they can use their social security number.

Pennsylvania and U.S. federal law already prohibit non-citizens from voting. Democrats argue that a simpler and more streamlined registration process encourages more people to vote, and disenfranchises those who do not have the proper documentation, many of whom are legal U.S. citizens who come from poorer and disadvantaged backgrounds.

But Pennsylvania is among nearly two dozen states considering proof of citizenship voting laws, with legislation introduced in the state legislature last fall to tighten restrictions.

?Free and fair elections are the backbone of our republic, and it is paramount we do all we can to protect our elections and secure the integrity of our election administration,? State Rep. Ryan Warner (R-52) said in a statement upon introducing his bill. ?This includes ensuring only qualified electors are registered to vote.?

Any small change to Pennsylvania election code could have dramatic ripple effects on a national scale, as the battleground Keystone State remains a key road to the White House.

Swift constitutional challenges are expected. Article I of the nation?s founding charter gives states, not the federal government, authority over the ?times, places, and manner? of how elections are run.

A new state law in New Hampshire requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register and vote recently prevented at least two people from having their say in town and school elections. Their experiences, recounted by town clerks, could prove instructive for the rest of the country as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act advances in Congress and more than a dozen states consider similar legislation.

?Everything that conservatives tried to downplay, New Hampshire told us exactly what would happen on a national scale under the SAVE Act,? Greta Bedekovics, a former policy adviser for Senate Democrats who is now with the Center for American Progress, told The Associated Press earlier this month.

Voting groups worry that women who have married and changed their names will encounter difficulty registering to vote because their birth certificates have their maiden names. In Derry, New Hampshire, Brooke Yonge, a 45-year-old hair stylist, was turned away from a school election because she didn?t have proof of citizenship and then again because the name on her birth certificate didn?t match her married name on her driver?s license. Yonge eventually had to show her marriage license.

Other states considering similar proof of citizenship legislation in addition to Pennsylvania include: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Trump has often claimed elections are being rigged, even before the results are known, and has waged battles against certain voting methods since he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump has focused particularly on mail voting, arguing without evidence that it?s insecure and invites fraud even as he has shifted his position on the issue given its popularity with voters, including Republicans.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Registering to vote in Pennsylvania is simple. You can do it online via the Department of State's website. You can also register to vote directly on National Voter Registration Day?s website.