SacBee: What Donald Trump’s order to change election requirements means for California
By Nicole Nixon
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to require proof of citizenship to vote and to prohibit ballot counting after Election Day. If it stands, the order could vastly reshape how elections are run in California and around the United States.
The order states that the nation “has not adequately enforced federal election requirements” and directs state election officials to share voter databases and prosecute voter fraud. It threatens to pull federal funding from states that do not comply.
The order is expected to face legal challenges from voting rights groups.
UCLA election law professor Rick Hasen warned that the order will disenfranchise millions of voters.
Requiring people to show proof of citizenship “would prevent only a tiny amount of noncitizen voter registration but stop millions of eligible voters, who do not have easy access to documents such as passports from registering to vote,” Hasen wrote on his blog.
Most voting in California is done by mail-in ballots, which can be counted if they arrive up to a week after Election Day as long as they were postmarked on-time. Trump and his allies have long targeted vote-by-mail and alleged — without evidence — that millions of noncitizens illegally voted in American elections. The president also falsely claimed last month that “California just stopped counting” votes.
“This is setting the stage for him to continue pushing conspiracy theories around elections,” said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc. which publishes a dashboard tracking California’s ballot returns for statewide elections.
“Everyone makes fun of the fact that he might run for a third term,” Mitchell said. “But if you were writing out the fan-fiction for that, it would start with him fighting states about the administration of elections.”
California’s slow counting in the crosshairs
Mail-in balloting has been the voting method of choice for the majority of California voters for over a decade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vote-by-mail was expanded to every county and has remained popular: 80% of California ballots in the 2024 general election were cast using mail-in ballots.
The order’s provision to outlaw post-Election Day ballot tabulation sets up a clash between Trump and California.
County officials are given nearly a month to process ballots and millions of ballots in the state are counted in the days and weeks after an election. As long as a mail ballot is postmarked by Election Day, state law allows county elections officials to count those that arrive within the following seven days.
The drawn-out vote counting timeline means tight congressional races in California are often some of the last to be decided, and it has drawn criticism from officials from within and outside California in recent election years. But Democrats in California defend the process as prioritizing voter access and accuracy over speed.
“We take pride in the fact that we’re not rushed. We’re not slow, but we’re not in a race,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber said after the 2024 election.
In a statement, Weber called the order “a calculated and dramatic assault on every American’s right to vote.”
“Under the guise of protecting Americans from voter fraud, this unprecedented and reckless interference into state election processes is premised on a widely debunked myth of massive non-citizen voting,” Weber said.
“Make no mistake, President Trump, through this action, fears voters and our democracy. As California Secretary of State, I will do all in my power to ensure that all eligible Californians can freely and securely participate in our democracy.”
Former Secretary of State Sen. Alex Padilla called Trump “a notorious election denier” in a statement Tuesday evening.
“He lacks the authority to implement many of the changes laid out in this illegal executive order, which also ignores the requirements set forth in the bipartisan Help America Vote Act. Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy and attempts by the president to make it harder for eligible voters to participate hurts all Americans, regardless of party,” Padilla said.
“I stand ready to work with anyone on responsible solutions to improve election security and increase voter participation, but this sham order is not the answer.”
Trump’s order cites a 2024 Circuit Court of Appeals ruling blocking ballots that arrive after Election Day from being counted. But as a 5th Circuit Court ruling, Mitchell said it does not apply to states outside that jurisdiction, including California.
“California would have a very strong case to push back against that,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that elections are administered by states.”
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