Big setback for Trump as his high-stakes move to reshape American elections gets shot down hard

Time of India

21 hours ago

A judge blocked parts of Trump's order that would make voters show proof of citizenship. The judge said only Congress can make election rules and the order would make it harder for real voters to vote. Claims of noncitizen voting are very rare and already illegal.
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A federal judge blocked parts of an order from Trump that wanted voters to show proof of citizenship when they vote. The judge said making it harder for people to vote would hurt eligible voters because it adds big obstacles before they can vote.Casper said Trump's order went too far because only Congress can set new election rules, not the president. She wrote that it is clear U.S. citizenship is needed to vote in federal elections and forms already require voters to say they are citizens.But the question is if the president can force voters to show documents proving citizenship, even though Congress controls election rules. The law also says the Election Assistance Commission must ask states and the public before changing federal voter registration forms.One part of Trump's order that was blocked said the Election Assistance Commission must collect proof of citizenship info on the national voter registration form. The judge also stopped a White House rule that said the Defense Secretary must update absentee voting forms for overseas and military voters to require proof of citizenship and eligibility to vote in their state.The judge said the Constitution or law does not give the president the power to make such rules. Since Trump lost the 2020 election, he and his supporters have focused on false claims of voter fraud. For example, a big audit in Georgia found only 20 noncitizens on the voter list out of 8.2 million people.Out of those 20 noncitizens, only nine voted years ago before voter ID was needed; the other 11 never voted. Critics say that rules like one-day voting and requiring ID on the same day would lower voter turnout and hurt democracy. These rules would especially make voting harder in big cities, where processing votes needs more workers and time.Trump keeps focusing on noncitizens voting, which is already illegal and almost never happens. In Georgia, noncitizen votes made up only 0.00024% of all votes.Trump has not talked about fixing campaign finance laws, even though big corporations and billionaires influence politics more and more. Instead, Trump's allies want to make campaign finance laws weaker, raise donation limits, and stop the Federal Election Commission from enforcing election rules better.No, only Congress has the power to set election rules.No, noncitizen voting is very rare and illegal.