One of President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders is targeting voting rights and mail-in ballots. A move that New York State officials and advocates are slamming as an attack on voters of color, immigrants, and low-income communities.
The order, which was made public on March 25, requires people to show documents, like a passport, proving their citizenship in order to register to vote –– mimicking the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act). It also bans states from counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day.
Members of the New Yorkers for Inclusive Democracy (NYID) coalition warned that “hard-won freedoms” like voting rights needed to be protected by the state’s legislature in an op-ed on March 19. In their demands they called for the state to invest at least $10.8 million in the upcoming budget towards voter education and outreach, as well as the passage of the Democracy During Detention Act (S440/A2121) to facilitate voting for eligible detainees, and the Enhanced Automatic Voter Registration bill (S88) to automatically register eligible voters through agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
“The executive order signed by President Trump is a blatant attempt at voter suppression that could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. The order would create unnecessary barriers to the free exercise of the very cornerstone of our democracy –– the right to vote. It would have the greatest impact on communities of color and naturalized citizens,” said Assemblymember Latrice Walker, chair of the Assembly’s election law committee and a member of NYID, in a statement.
Walker denounced the order as “unconstitutional” because the power to determine the rules for federal elections lies with the states. “So, the president has no authority to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote,” said Walker.
She noted that mail-in ballots received by or after Election Day is standard practice in 18 states, including New York, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
Trump claims that the order “strengthens voter citizenship verification” and “bans foreign nationals from interfering in U.S. elections.” To be clear, said the Brennan Center for Justice, noncitizens already can’t vote in state and federal elections under penalty of criminal prosecution and that instances of in-person voter fraud are extremely low. The “myth of noncitizen voting” gained traction with “election deniers” in the last five years to undermine trust in the electoral system, said the Brennan Center.
New York City Council did once float the idea of allowing “tax paying” noncitizens to vote in local elections and managed to pass Bill Intro 1867 (Local Law 11) in 2021. This would have allowed more than 800,000 immigrant New Yorkers who held green cards, work authorizations, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to vote. It was immediately struck down by a state judge in 2022 and again in 2025 by the state’s Court of Appeals.
“We’ve seen this same effort play out with the recent decision to strike down Local Law 11—an initiative that would have enfranchised nearly one million immigrant New Yorkers,” said President & CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) Murad Awawdeh in a statement. “This ruling wasn’t just a setback for immigrant communities; it’s part of the broader national trend of chipping away at voting rights.”
A similar issue occurs with voter identity document (ID) laws in the U.S, which indeed are necessary to prevent voter fraud but have historically and disproportionately impacted Black, Latino, Native American, elderly, and student voters, reported the League of Women Voters (LWV). During the Jim Crow era, white supremacists in government and law enforcement began to use restrictive and ridiculous tactics to prevent Black people from voting. This included literacy tests and poll taxes, along with unwarranted arrests and outright violence. Most of these were banned in 1965 under the Voting Rights Act (VRA), but voter ID laws persisted.
“For me—as a Black woman, a person of faith, and someone deeply rooted in community—voting is sacred, it is the foundation of our civic and spiritual commitment to justice,” said Crystal Walthall, executive director of Faith in New York. “But the promise of the federal Voting Rights Act has never been fully realized for too many of our communities. From purges to suppression, and now to coordinated attacks from the highest levels of government, the right to vote is under threat.”
Many U.S citizens also just don’t have an ID or access to a valid ID since the most common form is a driver’s license. Other forms, like a US passport or enhanced REAL ID, require time and resources to get. In New York State, a Non-Driver ID can be applied for regardless of citizenship or legal status.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair Suzan DelBene, and Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said in a joint statement that Trump’s executive order “is reckless, dangerous and illegal. It is a brazen attempt by Trump to throw out legal votes cast by millions of American citizens and disenfranchise voters so he can ignore election outcomes he does not like.”
A coalition of voting rights organizations, like the LWV and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), quickly filed a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s executive order.
“Our Constitution makes clear that the President does not have the power to regulate federal elections – that responsibility is explicitly delegated to Congress and the states. This Order is an illegal and dangerous power grab, a direct attack on American democracy, and an affront to the rule of law,” they said in a joint statement.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, along with a coalition of 17 other attorneys general, also sent a letter on March 31 vehemently opposing the SAVE Act.
“The right to vote is the very foundation of our democracy, but with this bill, Congress is threatening that right for millions of eligible voters,” said Attorney General James. “The so-called SAVE Act would disproportionately impact communities of color, low-income individuals, and other vulnerable populations to create a dangerous precedent. It is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to suppress voter participation and I urge Congress to reject this bill and protect every American’s fundamental right to vote.”
The AmNews Illustration of the Bill of Rights looking like a bullet going through the face is a really bad idea.