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Pro-Trump legal advocacy nonprofit America First Legal (AFL) is calling on the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to begin requiring proof of citizenship for all federal voter registration applicants after the president’s effort to do so by executive order was blocked by the courts.
AFL filed a petition on Wednesday with the EAC, calling on the agency to amend the national voter registration form to require applicants to provide any one of the following documents proving U.S. citizenship: a U.S. passport, birth certificate, consular report of birth abroad, certificate of naturalization, certificate of citizenship, state-issued REAL-ID compliant license, or other reliable government-issued identification.
The move follows a March executive order issued by President Donald Trump, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which sought to compel the EAC to begin requiring a proof of citizenship requirement on the national voter registration form, in addition to other provisions pertaining to the prohibition of non-citizen voting.
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Trump’s move has been slammed by critics who have argued that it is already illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections. However, a hopeful voter does not need to provide any proof of citizenship and can just self-attest.
The portion of Trump’s March executive order calling on the EAC to amend the national voter registration form and require all states to comply and use it was ultimately blocked by multiple federal judges following lawsuits that challenged Trump’s authority.
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In AFL’s petition to the EAC, the group argues that even though the legal challenges and their resulting temporary injunctions from federal judges are still being adjudicated, the injunctions “are based entirely on separation of powers principles,” which leaves the EAC with room “to take commonsense election integrity measures on its own volition.”
“The executive order used spending powers to have the EAC ensure state election officers were enforcing the law by requiring proof of citizenship,” Vice President of America first Legal, Daniel Epstein, further clarified to Fox News Digital. “What we are doing is forcing a change in the forms EAC distributes and we have the ability to enforce in court.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the EAC for comment but did not receive a response.
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