Trump Plans To Create State Citizenship Lists To Determine Who Can Vote: Here's How It May Backfire

Last Updated:May 25, 2026, 14:17 IST

Trump signed an executive order in March directing the Department of Homeland Security to prepare state-by-state citizenship lists to exclude 'non-citizens' from voting.

US President Donald Trump attempted to reshape American elections by signing an executive order in March, seeking to create lists of US citizens who are eligible to vote in each state. This marked an unprecedented overhaul that would bar those whom the administration considers ‘non-citizens’ from voting in state elections.

In what is one of the most consequential decisions by the second Trump administration, American states have been directed to send the US Postal Service their own lists of voters eligible to cast ballots by mail at least 60 days before a federal election, according to The New York Times. The Postal Service would then send mail-in ballots to only verified ballots.

“I think this will help a lot with elections," Trump said in March before signing the executive order. Democratic-led states and voting rights groups have sued to block the voter policy, calling it unconstitutional. Federal judges have previously contended that the president lacks the authority to set voting policy.

Why Is Trump Doing This?

Trump has repeatedly complained, without providing evidence, about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and fraud associated with mail ballots. However, such cases are extremely rare.

As per the executive order, the Homeland Security Department has been instructed to compile a list of individuals confirmed to be US citizens above the age of 18 in each state at the time of a federal election. The order requires the Postal Service to transmit ballots only to individuals enrolled on a State-specific Mail-in and Absentee Participation List. The White House said this would ensure only eligible voters receive mail-in ballots.

This is also not Trump’s first attempt to bring citizenship into election records. During his first term in 2019, he called on the government to compile citizenship data after a failed attempt to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census.

More recently, Trump pressured Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which includes a sweeping election overhaul that calls on states to use federal databases to identify non-citizens. The bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic Opposition.

Why Trump’s Plan May Backfire

Trump’s plans to introduce state-by-state citizenship lists are fraught with several challenges and has been subject to criticism from his own allies. Even the Justice Department acknowledged in a recent hearing that the lists would likely be unreliable in determining voter eligibility.

Democrats have described the executive order as a “flagrant overreach" by the Trump administration that would impose new burdens on the already-strained US Postal Service and invade people’s privacy.

No Citizenship Database

One of the biggest challenges of Trump’s sweeping measure is that the United States have never maintained a central citizenship registry since the 18th century, according to The New York Times.

Identity Of Voters

Unlike other countries where people are issued national identification cards, the US relies on several other documents to prove citizenship. Passports are one of them, but only 54% of Americans use them. Social Security cards, which are generally issued to Americans at birth, can also be possessed by noncitizens.

Violation Of Privacy

The US Privacy Act of 1974 states that “no agency shall disclose any record" to another agency without written consent from the person whose records would be shared except in the case of a law enforcement activity. Lawyers challenging Trump’s order have argued that it would be impossible to create a list that does not violate the privacy laws.

Naturalised Americans

There is also apprehension that flawed databases could wrongly target US citizens, particularly since the Trump administration has attempted to strip US citizenship from hundreds of naturalised Americans.

News world Trump Plans To Create State Citizenship Lists To Determine Who Can Vote: Here's How It May Backfire

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