‘Massive and unconstitutional suppression effort’: voting rights advocates and Democrats slam Trump’s latest order
Donald Trump’s new executive order is already facing sharp criticism from voting rights advocates and Democrats.
Marc Elias, an attorney and the founder of Democracy Docket, described the order as unconstitutional.
“This is a massive and unconstitutional voter suppression effort aimed at giving Trump the power to create a list of who is allowed to vote by mail,” Elias said in a social media post. “We know where this will go – the targeting of Democrats for mass disenfranchisement. We will sue and we will win.”
Democratic senator Raphael Warnock said the order “will not stand”.
“The President’s attack on mail-in ballots is desperation plain and simple. It’s a panicked attempt to silence the people and salvage a failing presidency.”
Key events
Summary
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Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting across the US with a series of new requirements, including the establishment of a national voter list.
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The move was unprecedented and likely unconstitutional, according to experts. The Brennan Center said in response, “He has no lawful authority to write the rules that govern our elections. He tried a year ago; we sued him; we won. A year later, he has tried again. He can expect the same result.”
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Several states and Democratic officials criticized the order, describing it as an illegal attack that amounted to voter suppression ahead of the midterms, and said they will take legal action to stop the president, including California.
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Trump continued to fume over today’s ruling from a US judge that halted the construction of his $400m White House ballroom, and sharply criticized the decision during a press briefing and on social media.
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Pete Hegseth lifted the suspension of the crew of the military helicopters that hovered near the home of singer Kid Rock, and said there would be no investigation.
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Donald Trump will provide an “important update” on the war in Iran during an address to the nation on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Donald Trump is set to provide an “important update” on the war in Iran during an address to the nation on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
The president spoke about the conflict during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters that the US could end its attacks on Iran within weeks. Earlier in the day, he also made comments online critical of European countries that did not join the war, stating that they should buy oil from the US or “go get your own oil” from the Gulf.
How common is voting by mail – and how rare is fraud?
Voting by mail is popular across the US, utilized by tens of millions of Americans, including Donald Trump himself. Despite his years-long vendetta against the method, and threats to eliminate it entirely, he voted by mail in a special election in Florida earlier this month.
Almost a third Americans voted by mail in 2024, according to States United Democracy Center. While people of all demographics in rural, suburban and urban areas vote by mail, the center notes, it was particularly popular among white voters, older voters and US military members.
Trump and other Republicans have for years promoted falsehoods about the security of US elections, and argued that voting by mail has led to rampant fraud and “cheating”. Mail voting fraud is exceedingly rare, data shows. According to a report from the Brookings Institute, such cases account for 0.000043% of total mail ballots cast which amounts to roughly four cases out of every 10 million votes.
Officials in California have said they also plan to sue over Donald Trump’s new executive order restricting mail-in voting.
“We’re challenging it,” Governor Gavin Newsom said. “See you in court.”
The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, described it as a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation in his ongoing attacks on our elections”.
“The power to regulate elections belongs to the States and to Congress – he has no role to play. We blocked his previous Executive Order on elections in court, and we are prepared to stop him again,” Bonta said, adding that Trump and Republicans are likely to lose in the midterms and are seeking to make it more difficult to vote.
The state has filed more than 50 lawsuits against the administration since Trump’s second term began.
What exactly does Trump’s new executive order set out to do?
The action, which the president has framed as an effort to enhance “election integrity”, directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create a national voter list and share that with states.
It also directs the postmaster general to require all mail-in and absentee ballots to be placed in “secure ballot envelopes” with official markings, and the postal service to send mail-in ballots only to those on the list, and orders the attorney general to withhold federal funds from “noncompliant” states and cities. Under the order, the attorney general is also supposed to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of election officials and others who distribute federal ballots to ineligible voters.
Voting rights advocates and Democrats, however, say the order is an unlawful voter suppression effort intended to limit voting ahead of the midterms.
“Trump’s attack on vote by mail isn’t about integrity – quite the opposite. He knows vote by mail protects against all the well-known Election Day voter suppression tactics,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, which conducts elections entirely by mail.
“This is all part of his effort to rig the upcoming November election. We can’t let him succeed. Save our Republic!”
Shortly after the army announced it would suspend the crew of the military helicopters that hovered near the home of singer Kid Rock, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said he would lift the suspension.
“No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots,” Hegseth wrote online.
Does Donald Trump actually have the authority to restrict mail-in voting?
Experts have spoken about today’s executive order, which would create a national voter registry and restrict the use of mail-in ballots, in no uncertain terms, describing it as unconstitutional and unlikely to stand up to legal challenges.
The president does not have legal authority over elections and mail-in voting. The US constitution permits states to set their own rules around elections. Only Congress can enact changes to US policy on federal elections. And federal courts blocked a previous order from Trump that sought to enact citizenship requirements on federal voter registration documents.
Multiple voting rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have already spoken against today’s order.
“The president has signed an executive order on mail voting. He has no lawful authority to write the rules that govern our elections. He tried a year ago; we sued him; we won. A year later, he has tried again. He can expect the same result,” the Brennan Center said.
“Our government’s citizenship lists are incomplete and inaccurate. The United States Postal Service is overburdened and inadequate. This combines a car crash with a train wreck.”
The president, meanwhile, continues to fume over today’s ruling from a US judge that halted the construction of his $400m White House ballroom.
He spoke about the matter during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “We built many things at the White House over the years. They don’t get congressional approval”.
An hour later he posted online that the judge in the case wrong.
“Congressional approval has never been given on anything, in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House. In this case, even less so, because the Ballroom is being built with Private Donations, no Federal Taxpayer Money!”
Officials in Oregon and Arizona are already warning they will challenge Trump’s new executive order on elections, arguing it amounts to an “illegal attack”.
“Only citizens vote in Arizona elections. That’s the law and we’ll continue to enforce it. We don’t need Washington politicians telling us how to run our elections,” wrote Arizona governor Katie Hobbs. “This Executive Order is nothing more than an illegal attack on vote by mail and access to the ballot box.”
Ron Wyden, Oregon’s senator, said voters in his state have successfully used vote by mail for more than three decades.
“We’ll be damned if we let Donald Trump change the way our state runs its elections. My message to the White House is this: if you come for Oregon’s vote-by-mail, you’ll have hell to pay.”
Tobias Read, the Democratic secretary of state in Oregon, which votes entirely by mail, also threatened legal action. “My message to the President: We’ll see you in court.”
During the press conference where Trump signed his order on voting, the president also waded into the recent controversy regarding one of his famous supporters, Kid Rock.
The army announced this week it had opened an investigation after two military helicopters on a training run hovered near the singer’s Nashville home as the singer offered a salute. Trump said he hadn’t seen the video, but that he would look into the incident.
“I’m sure they had a good time,” the president said. “Well, they probably shouldn’t have been doing it, you’re not supposed to play games, right? But they like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him.”
‘Massive and unconstitutional suppression effort’: voting rights advocates and Democrats slam Trump’s latest order
Donald Trump’s new executive order is already facing sharp criticism from voting rights advocates and Democrats.
Marc Elias, an attorney and the founder of Democracy Docket, described the order as unconstitutional.
“This is a massive and unconstitutional voter suppression effort aimed at giving Trump the power to create a list of who is allowed to vote by mail,” Elias said in a social media post. “We know where this will go – the targeting of Democrats for mass disenfranchisement. We will sue and we will win.”
Democratic senator Raphael Warnock said the order “will not stand”.
“The President’s attack on mail-in ballots is desperation plain and simple. It’s a panicked attempt to silence the people and salvage a failing presidency.”
Legal expert: ‘the president has no power over elections in the states’
Trump’s new executive order follows a previous effort seeking to make significant changes to US elections, including requiring a documentary proof-of-citizenship to federal voter registration forms and requiring mail-in ballots to be received at election offices by election day at the latest.
That order was subject to immediate challenges from voting rights groups and Democratic state attorneys general.
David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney with the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told the Associated Press that the president’s latest action indicates he hasn’t learned from his previous failed efforts to control elections.
“The Constitution is very clear — the president has no power over elections in the states,” Becker said. “This will be blocked as soon as lawyers can get to the courthouse.”
Trump signs executive order to limit mail-in voting
Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting across the US with a series of new requirements.
The order directs his administration to establish a federal list of confirmed citizens that can legally vote in each state, and orders the postal service to send mail-in ballots only to those on the list. During a press conference at the White House, Trump said the administration would like to require voter ID and proof of citizenship, and repeated falsehoods about mail-in voting.
Trump has long attacked voting by mail and promoted misinformation about the practice, describing it as a scam that creates fraud in elections. Despite that, he has voted by mail himself, including in a recent special election in Florida.
The president does not actually have legal authority over mail-in voting as states run their own elections and only Congress can enact changes to US policy on federal elections.
Democrats were critical of the move and threatened prompt legal action with Chuck Schumer writing, “See you in court. You will lose.”
US aware of reports of journalist kidnapped in Baghdad and liaising with FBI
Lucy Campbell
The US state department has said it is aware of reports that a US journalist has been kidnapped in Baghdad and it is liaising with the FBI.
In a post on X, the department’s assistant secretary for global public affairs, Dylan Johnson, said:
The US Department of State is aware of the reported kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad, Iraq.
The State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them and we will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible.
An individual with ties to the Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hizballah believed to be involved in the kidnapping has been taken into custody by Iraqi authorities.
Iraq remains at a Level 4 Travel Advisory and Americans are advised not to travel to Iraq for any reason and to leave Iraq now.
The State Department strongly advise all Americans, including members of the press, to adhere to all travel advisories.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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A federal judge in Washington DC has blocked the construction of Donald Trump’s sweeping $400m White House ballroom project. In his ruling, district court judge Richard Leon said that project would be on hold until the administration receives approval from Congress to continue. Trump quickly railed against the decision on social media, claiming that the construction was “under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the taxpayer, and will be the finest building of its kind anywhere in the world”.
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In a blow to Trump’s immigration agenda, a district court judge in Boston ordered the administration to restore the legal status of thousands of immigrants who had been allowed to temporarily live in the US by using an appointment app utilized under former president Joe Biden. Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that the US Department of Homeland Security acted unlawfully when it sent mass emails in April 2025 notifying up to 900,000 people who had entered the country using the CBP One mobile app that it was “time for you to leave the United States”.
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Meanwhile at the supreme court, justices ruled against the state of Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” – a practice that seeks to change minors’ sexual orientation or gender identity. In an 8-1 decision, the majority reversed a lower court’s decision that had upheld the law in a case brought by psychotherapist Kaley Chiles, who argued that the ban violated her first amendment right to free speech. Ketanji Brown Jackson – one of the three liberal justices on the bench – issued a lone dissent rebuking her colleagues’ decision.
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Donald Trump confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla, will travel to the US for a state visit from 27 to 30 April. The president said that the trip will include a banquet dinner at the White House on 28 April. “I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect. It will be TERRIFIC!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Average US fuel prices have crossed $4 per gallon for the first time in four years, piling pressure on drivers as Donald Trump’s war on Iran continues to boost oil markets. The nationwide average climbed to almost $4.02 on Tuesday, according to AAA data, capping an extraordinary rise from $2.98 just a month ago. It has not been this high since August 2022.
Trump lambasts ruling that halts construction of ballroom project
The president has railed against a federal judge’s ruling today that blocks construction of his prized White House ballroom project.
Donald Trump targeted the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), who filed the initial lawsuit against the administration, and claimed the $400m ballroom is “under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the taxpayer,” and – he added– “will be the finest building of its kind anywhere in the world”.
He also pointed to the fact that NTHP also sued Trump for his planned renovations of the Kennedy Center, which will result in the performing arts venue closing for two years.
On Truth Social, Trump claimed that he is “fixing, cleaning, running, and ‘sprucing up’ a terribly maintained” building. He also lobbed a familiar insult at the preservation group, and called them a “radical left group of lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005”.
Trump also claimed that NTHP launched a politically motivated lawsuit against the president by not suing Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell over the ongoing renovations to the central bank. A project which the president used as grounds to prosecute Powell – who he frequently targets in person and on social media – to little avail.
In response to today’s ruling, Trump added:
So, the White House Ballroom, and The Trump Kennedy Center, which are under budget, ahead of schedule, and will be among the most magnificent Buildings of their kind anywhere in the World, gets sued by a group that was cut off by Government years ago, but all of the many DISASTERS in our Country are left alone to die. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Federal judge blocks construction of Trump’s sweeping ballroom project
A federal judge in Washington DC has blocked the construction of Donald Trump’s sweeping $400m White House ballroom project. In his ruling, district court judge Richard Leon said that project would be on hold until the administration receives approval from Congress to continue.
“It is not too late for Congress to authorize the continued construction of the ballroom project,” Leon wrote in his opinon. “The President may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds. Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable. Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the Government’s spending.”
The president began demolishing the East Wing of the White House in October, to make way for the new construction. In response, the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) launched a lawsuit against the project.
A reminder that Trump also fired all six members of the independent US Commission of Fine Arts responsible for reviewing the ballroom plan, and replaced them with handpicked designees who gave their unanimous consent last month.
The president has frequently bragged about the project as a hallmark of his legacy, and branded it as a much-needed improvement for the White House.
According to the New York Post, representatives for Kristi Noem’s family, say the former homeland security secretary has been “blindsided” by a report from Daily Mail which alleges that Noem’s husband Byron communicated with only fetish models.
The Mail claims that Byron Noem was in touch with three women from the ‘bimbofication’ scene. This, the outlet notes, is a subsection of performers who transform themselves into real-life Barbie dolls by inflating their breasts with saline.
The report also states that Noem’s husband also took selfies where he appears to have stuffed two balloons inside his shirt to resemble breasts.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) leapt on to the revelations, and re-shared the photos of Byron, with screengrabs of Kristi Noem’s now-infamous Department of Homeland Secrurity (DHS) advertisements. “That’s cute they both like to dress up,” the DNC wrote of the couple in a caption.
