Illinois pushes back on latest Trump voting order
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Illinois advocates are challenging President Trump's latest effort to change voting laws, which would create voter lists that the Postal Service would use to identify who gets a mail-in ballot.
Why it matters: The U.S. Constitution places the job of election administration in the hands of the states and Congress.
- Opponents of Trump's order characterize it as an attempt to interfere with November's midterm elections, where polls show the GOP facing tough odds.
What they're saying: "In Illinois, our secure elections safeguard every citizen's right to vote. We will not hesitate to fight the president's blatantly unconstitutional order," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul tells Axios.
- "Based on little more than conspiracy theories, the President claims that voting by mail — a process he and his family regularly employ — is flawed and should be regulated by the White House," Illinois ACLU spokesperson Ed Yohnka tells Axios.
- "Illinois will keep administering free and fair elections — and what Donald Trump puts on a piece of paper will not change that," Gov. JB Pritzker said on X.
The other side: Trump on Tuesday night told reporters in the Oval Office that his proposal is "foolproof," per NPR.
Zoom out: Last year a federal judge overturned another Trump order to change election laws.
- The president is also promoting passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would mandate, among other things, registrants to bring copies of their passport or birth certificate to an election office.
Reality check: More than 21 million voting-age Americans lack the documents needed to register to vote under the SAVE Act, such as a birth certificate or passport, according to an estimate from the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal public policy nonprofit.
- Under the act, more than 5 million voting-age Americans would have to drive an estimated hour or more to present their citizenship documents for registration.
By the numbers: The average American lives about 20 minutes by car from their nearest election office, per an Axios analysis. Those are county or municipal offices that manage voter registration and voting.
- For rural Americans in western states, that more than doubles to 49 minutes.
- Apache County, Arizona, residents have an average drive of 2 hours and 30 minutes.