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The Constitution gives the power to regulate federal elections to Congress and the States. It gives no power to the President. In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to accept a national voter registration form from voters seeking to register in federal elections. By law, that form may require only such identifying information as needed to make sure the applicant is an eligible voter.

Congress created a bipartisan independent agency called the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to develop this federal form. The EAC has long concluded that voters can establish their eligibility by swearing under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen. It is unnecessary for voters to produce their passports or other citizenship documentation in order to register to vote.

Nevertheless, on March 25, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the EAC to add a documentary-proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form. In addition to upending voter registration, sweeping Executive Order would also create a nationwide mail and absentee ballot receipt deadline, decertify all state voting machines across the country, and penalize States that do not comply with the President’s directive.

On behalf of the League of Woman Voters, the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Hispanic Federation, NAACP, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, and APIAVote, the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ, along with co-counsel ºìÐÓÊÓƵ of Washington DC, Brennan Center for Justice, NAACP LDF, Latino Justice Project, and AAJC, filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Executive Order. The lawsuit claims that the Executive Order violates the constitutional separation of powers and the NVRA.

On April 24, 2025, a federal court judge issued a preliminarily blocking the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from implementing a mandate in the president’s executive order to add a requirement to show a passport or similar document proving citizenship when registering to vote via the federal form.

Update: On October 31, 2025, the federal court in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from enforcing the portion of President Trump’s March 25, 2025 Executive Order that would have required documentary proof of citizenship for the National Mail Voter Registration Form. The court held that the order violated the separation of powers because the president lacks authority to set election rules.