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

NEW YORK — 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.

According to the New York State Board of Elections, to qualify to register to vote in New York, you must:

• be a United States Citizen;
• be 18 years old (you may pre-register at 16 or 17 but cannot vote until you are 18);
• be a resident of this state and the county, city or village for at least 30 days before the election;
• not be in prison for a felony conviction;
• not be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court;
• not claim the right to vote elsewhere

New York does not require voters to present identification while voting, Ballotpedia said, adding that, "however, if a voter does not provide valid identification at the time of registration, he or she must show identification at the polling place when voting for the first time." Acceptable identification includes a current, valid driver's license or New York State-issue non-driver's ID, a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document with the voter's name and address.

According to the New York State Board of Elections, an application requesting to receive an early mail ballot must be received by the board of elections in the person's county no later than 10 days before the election. For early mail ballots to be received in-person, applications must be received by your board no later than the day before the election, the NYSBOE said.

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.

The nearly two dozen states considering proof of citizenship voting laws are: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

According to Trump's order, within 30 days of the date of this order, the Election Assistance Commission shall take appropriate action to require, in its national mail voter registration form . . . documentary proof of United States citizenship, as well as a state or local official to record on the form the type of document that the applicant presented . . . including the date of the document’s issuance, the date of the document’s expiration (if any), the office that issued the document, and any unique identification number associated with the document.

"Documentary proof of United States citizenship" includes a United States passport; an identification document compliant with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005, that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States; an official military identification card that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States; or a valid federal or state government-issued photo identification if such identification indicates that the applicant is a United States citizen or if such identification is otherwise accompanied by proof of United States citizenship, the order states.

In addition, to identify unqualified voters registered in the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, "consistent with applicable law, ensure that state and local officials have, without the requirement of the payment of a fee, access to appropriate systems for verifying the citizenship or immigration status of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered — and the Secretary of State shall take all lawful and appropriate action to make available information from relevant databases to state and local election officials engaged in verifying the citizenship of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered," the order said.

Also, the order said, the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the DOGE administrator, "shall review each state’s publicly available voter registration list and available records concerning voter list maintenance activities, alongside federal immigration databases and state records requested, including through subpoena where necessary and authorized by law, for consistency with federal requirements," the order said.

To read the full order, click here.

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.