Electoral officials in Pennsylvania i Experts said on Wednesday that this is unlikely A huge executive order from President Donald Trump The recommendation of citizenship requirements for voters and changing the rules for administering elections will be full.
And at least one Philadelphia Area said that he was consulting with lawyers regarding a possible legal challenge.
After years spent on false claims on electoral fraud and raging voting not civic, Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday, imposing a novel evidence of civic requirements for voters, directing the Federal Commission for Electoral Aid to recognize certain voting machines and holding federal funds from the state federal agencies.
Within a few hours of message, supporters of voice rights SUE sworn, arguing that the president was not entitled to unilaterally changes in state and local voting regulations.
The State Department in Pennsylvania repeated this sentiment in a statement on Wednesday, noting that the agency is still reviewing the order. “Shapiro administration is obliged to provide relevant federal provisions regarding electoral administration, but the president cannot repeal the federal provisions and our bilateral law on state elections through executive ordinance”, statement.
When officials were and the location continued to browse on Wednesday, Neil Makhija, the chairman of the Council of Commissioners of Montgomery, said he was in contact with lawyers of the Fun.
“There is no doubt that we will question us and others throughout the country,” Machija said, although he ceased to say that the unit is planning to file a lawsuit.
Marian Schneider, a lawyer from ACLU in Pennsylvania, said that everything is certain that the executive decision would be associated in court and shot down.
“This will have a very little impact on the elections in Pennsylvania. He will be associated in court for a while,” said Schneider. “The president has zero power over elections in accordance with the US Constitution.”
Proof of citizenship
According to federal and state law, it is illegal to vote in elections in Pennsylvania. During registration, voters from Pennsylvania must indicate a box verifying that they are US citizens and entitled to vote.
Lying on this form and voting without citizenship may result in prosecution and criminal deportation. Studies have shown that cases of non -citizens are extremely scarce.
Despite this, Trump spent most of his presidential campaign, falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants would vote massively in the presidential election. Republicans in Congress proposed legislation that would require every voter to provide documents proving their citizenship during registration to vote.
The news was a continuation of the long series of disinformation of Trump’s elections, which narrowed in Pennsylvania in 2020 with false claims that the election was stolen.
The executive order of Trump ordered EAC to add a requirement for documentation to prove citizenship to the National Mail voter registration form. Citizenship can be proved using a passport, a real identifier or military identification card.
Supporters have long raised fears that such requirements can accidentally deprive qualifying voters who have difficulty accessing the required documents, especially those whose legal name no longer goes with the name of their birth certificate, including people who change their names during the wedding.
“He tries to hammer a false nail with a hammer, and thus will hurt everyone who is under it,” said Adam Bonin, an election lawyer who represented Pennsylvania Democrats.
However, the potential change of the form can only affect the fraction of voters in Pennsylvania, because the state has its own voter registration form. Kathy Boockvar, a former Secretary of State in Pennsylvania, said that historically the requirements of the federal form do not affect the state form.
Influence on the administration of elections
Makhija said that one of his greatest fears related to the order was broad efforts to impose domestic control over the election system, which is decentralized by the project.
“If you want to release the election, you must fundamentally fed the election process,” Machija said. “If this EO actually got up in court, it would be a step towards doing it.”
In addition to imposing regulations regarding citizenship, executive ordinance requires countries to share information with several federal agencies, including the Department of Elon Musk’s government, orders EAC to recognize some electoral machines and says that the Federal Government will take some steps to facilitate countries to identify non -qualified voters.
It also tried to block you to count voting cards after election day that would eliminate Pennsylvania grace period for military and foreign voting cards.
Boockvar, a former Secretary of State in Pennsylvania, said that the executive ordinance expected that certain actions will take place much faster than it is possible and it seems that he does not understand how voting machines work.
Depending on how there are sections regarding the voting machine mounts Interpreted, she said 90% of voting machines in the country can be annulled. It can also be much less.
“People who developed this simple and simple, do not understand that they require time, require funds and at that moment it is very vague, which systems are even covered,” said Bookvar.
Karen Barsoum, Chester election director, said that she did not think that the order ultimately has a great impact on individual poviats.
She said that a significant part of the order concerns the maintenance of voter roller at the election level and strengthens the existing regulations and rules regarding the maintenance of voter roller and prohibiting the voting not civic. She said that she hopes that some federal information sharing may facilitate the removal of the dead or in a different way of non -eligible throw voters.
“After reading I felt pretty good,” said Barsoum.
