After a U.S. district court judge barred parts of Donald Trump’s election integrity executive order in April, a coalition of 19 Democrat attorneys general found a second district court judge to block other crucial provisions of the order. Along with the requirement of proof of citizenship to register to vote, these provisions include measures that strengthen security protections for overseas voting and ensure that ballots meet an Election Day deadline instead of straggling in for weeks on end.
By law, only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections. But left-leaning Massachusetts Judge Denise J. Casper ruled on Friday that wannabe voters should not have to prove they are citizens by showing documents like a passport, a state-issued photo ID like a driver’s license, or a military ID.
Casper has sided with the 19 Democrat-led states fighting President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring documentary proof of citizenship to participate in federal elections. The states in this case are California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
In their lawsuit the states took aim at Trump’s order directing the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to include a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form, which would require state employees to assess citizenship — see the documents — before letting applicants register to vote when they apply for public assistance programs. (Those receiving public assistance are automatically handed a federal voter registration card when they apply for services.)
The same executive order has other components, including a directive that Attorney General Pam Bondi take action against states that count absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day in the final tabulation of votes and a measure to require proof of citizenship and state eligibility to register as an overseas voter under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). But Casper nixed those too.
In April U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barred the order’s critical proof-of-citizenship requirement for the federal voter registration application and, according to Politico, “another provision that instructs federal agencies not to assist individuals with registering unless they can assess that those people are U.S. citizens.” She left provisions like the Election Day deadline and the UOCAVA proof-of-citizenship requirement in place, but Democrats simply moved along to the favorable venue and achieved a victory in one district court that has nationwide consequences for the integrity of U.S. elections.
Hellbound and Down 