Trump's Mail-In Voting Order: Legal Battles Ahead

0:00It's March 31st, I'm Cory with the story, and this is Anchorage News today, your AI-powered local news. President Donald Trump just signed a big executive order aimed at tightening up mail-in voting rules. It tells the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to build a list of voting-age citizens in every state and hand it over. To election officials, plus, the U.S. Postal Service has to make sure all ballots get tracking barcodes for outbound mail. This ramps up Trump's push to get more federal say in elections, even though states run them under the Constitution. He's long focused on stopping non-citizen voting, but studies show that's super rare. Last year, a similar order on proof of citizenship got shot down in court right away. Democrats are fired up, calling it an unconstitutional power grab to mess with the vote. Senator Alex Padilla said it's Trump dodging accountability instead of fixing real issues like costs. On the flip side, Republican National Committee Chair Joe Grunters cheered it as key to rebuilding

1:03trust in the ballot box. The order also pushes the Justice Department to cut funds from states that don't play ball, where the law allows it. It ties into Trump's pitch for the Save America Act, which wants citizenship proof to register, though that's stuck in the Senate. Boating rights lawyers like Mark Elias are already gearing up to sue. Legal fights are coming fast, with experts saying it'll likely get blocked quick. This could shake up how we handle midterms, forcing everyone to wash those court battles closely.