US President Donald Trump, on Friday, February 13, threatened to try to bypass Congress and force new voting laws ahead of the November midterm elections, where his Republican Party fears losing control of the legislature. Trump said he would soon issue an executive order attempting to impose the rules if Congress does not pass a law requiring photo identification to vote and other nationwide reforms.
Any attempt would likely be met by a legal challenge that could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. “There will be Voter ID for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “If we can’t get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order,” he wrote.
While many jurisdictions across the United States require photo ID to cast ballots, not all do, with Trump and many Republicans arguing without evidence that those areas have permitted significant voter fraud.
The Trump-backed “SAVE America” election reform act passed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives this week. However, it is expected to fail in the Senate, where the Republican majority is too slim to pass the law without Democratic support.
In addition to requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot, the bill would also require proof of citizenship to register to vote. There is no evidence of meaningful fraud in US elections and critics say that the bill’s measures would instead push millions of people away from casting ballots, because they don’t have a passport or a paper copy of their birth certificate.
These news stories are treating this like a real legal issue, but Trump’s EOs have as much jurisdiction on voting procedures as they have in deciding what I’m going to have for dinner. It doesn’t need a legal challenge because it doesn’t apply to anyone actually who decides what IDs are required.
It should be reported, but as authoritarian ravings completely inconsistent with our voting systems rather than a looming legal clash where we need the Supreme Court to decide what’s right.
The coverage is fine but the phrasing of these articles is downright subversive. Every single headline should be “Trump pretends he can cancel midterms” or “Trump hallucinates authority to change state voting laws”
Things like “…threatens to order new laws” or “…floats canceling election” or “…nationalize voting security” only serve to muddy the conversation. These things are explicitly not within his power and never will be possible (barring a farce amendment push, which can’t happen before November). He cannot do them even if pretends to do them.
The only thing that could happen is blatantly unconstitutional election interference (probably by force). Add that as a tagline to every article. Then when people show up to ICE goons monitoring their polling place their first thought won’t be “hmmm, must be [Trump’s new law/a canceled election/national voting security]”. They’ll properly think “why tf is this guy here?..”.
Part of the point is to get that incorrect idea into the minds of the population. It’s seeding other ‘Jan 6’ events in states that correctly ignore Trump’s nonsense.
They have exactly the amount that people give them though.
Not really. If Trump issues an executive order and an executive employee says “I won’t do that”, they can be fired whether or not the EO is ultimately determined to be legal. If a non-executive employee starts demanding birth certificates in order to vote, you can call the police and another less insane poll worker can give you your ballot without any personal risk, just the same as without an EO.