U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his intention to issue an executive order to require voter identification for every voter and to end widespread mail-in voting. Trump’s proposal, made on his social media platform Truth Social, builds on his long-standing and false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. However, the president’s constitutional authority to enact such a measure is widely disputed, and any such executive order would likely face immediate legal challenges.
Disputed Constitutional Authority
The power to regulate the “times, places and manner” of federal elections is primarily vested in state legislatures, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 4. While Congress can alter these regulations by law, the Constitution does not grant the president the authority to unilaterally change election rules. Legal experts and pro-democracy groups have warned that an executive order on voter ID or mail-in voting would be deemed unconstitutional and would almost certainly be blocked by the courts. In fact, a judge has already issued an injunction against a previous Trump executive order that would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote, stating that it “violates the Constitution” and “interferes with States’ inherent sovereignty.”
Voter ID and Mail-in Voting in the US
As of August 2025, 36 states require some form of voter identification for in-person voting, with rules varying from strict photo ID requirements to those that are less stringent. The remaining 14 states do not require any identification for in-person voting.
Trump has also pledged to ban mail-in voting, with the exception of military personnel and the very ill. This is a significant issue, as mail-in and absentee ballots accounted for over 30% of all ballots cast in the 2024 elections. Experts argue that there is no evidence that mail-in voting is less secure than in-person voting and that restricting it would disenfranchise millions of Americans, particularly those with disabilities.
