Federal Election Rules and Voting Policy

President Donald Trump has instructed the White House Counsel’s Office to examine whether he can, by executive order, require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration and mandate photo identification at polling places nationwide, according to a senior White House official. The internal review, overseen by OMB Director Russ Vought and staff secretary Will Scharf, comes even as administration lawyers have warned that such steps would likely face serious constitutional and statutory challenges because states traditionally run elections and Congress writes federal election law. The move reflects Trump’s continued fixation on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and follows lobbying by outside election‑denial allies, including attorney Cleta Mitchell, special government employee Kurt Olsen, and strategist Steve Bannon, who are feeding him arguments and materials to keep “election integrity” central to his agenda. Inside the West Wing, some senior aides want Trump focused on affordability and midterm economic messaging, but they acknowledge privately that they are unlikely to control his rhetoric and instead are trying to build parallel, data‑driven talking points. Trump’s State of the Union remarks on Feb. 24, accusing Democrats of wanting to 'cheat' and pledging, 'we’re going to stop it,' signaled that any eventual order could be framed as a core 2026 campaign promise even if courts ultimately block it.