Democratic lawmakers, officials and state governors quickly decried President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday, which called for the creation of a nationwide list of verified eligible voters.
“Trump’s executive order is not about securing our elections — it’s about silencing the voices of millions of Americans. This is executive overreach, plain and simple. The Constitution is clear: Only Congress and the states have the power to set election rules. Not the President,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told HuffPost in a statement.
The order directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to create a list of eligible voters in each state. It also aims to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from sending any absentee ballots to people not on the approved list.
The president is also calling for any mail-in ballots to include unique barcodes and secure envelopes, according to the executive order.
“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what’s going on,” Trump said, repeating his false claims about voter fraud as he signed the order on Tuesday. “I think this will help a lot with elections.”
