President Trump Signs Executive Order on Citizenship Verification and Mail Ballot Integrity — A Long Time Coming

MFEI ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

By Patrice Johnson, Chair and Founder, Michigan Fair Elections Institute

April 2, 2026

On March 31, 2026, President Donald Trump signed his second executive order on elections, titled Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections. The order takes aim at two longstanding vulnerabilities in the federal election system: the absence of a systematic mechanism to verify that only citizens receive ballots, and the lack of a uniform, auditable framework governing mail-in and absentee ballot delivery through the U.S. Postal Service.

Speaking at the White House as he signed the order, President Trump framed the action in straightforward terms: “We want to have honest voting in our country, because if you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have, really, a nation.” votebeat

At the Michigan Fair Elections Institute, we agree — and this executive order, whatever its ultimate fate in the courts, addresses concerns that serious election reformers across the political spectrum have flagged for more than two decades.

A Long Time Coming

The concerns animating this executive order are not new, and they are not partisan. In 2005, the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform issued a landmark report, Building Confidence in U.S. Elections. The committee, co-chaired by former Democrat President Jimmy Carter and former Republican Secretary of State James Baker III, found, “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.” PolitiFact

The Carter-Baker Commission went further, warning that “citizens who vote at home, at nursing homes, at the workplace, or in church are more susceptible to pressure, overt and subtle, or to intimidation. Vote buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail.” The Fulcrum

The commission also cautioned that mail voting “is likely to increase the risks of fraud and of contested elections” in states where the population is more mobile, where history exists of troubled elections, or where safeguards of ballot integrity are weaker. The New Republic 

Michigan fits that description. Since 2018, Michigan has dramatically expanded absentee voting, now offering no-reason absentee balloting, universal absentee applications, and a dense network of drop boxes across the state. These expansions were implemented with little of the security infrastructure the Carter-Baker Commission identified as essential. The warnings issued 20 years ago by two of America’s elder statesmen have never been more relevant to Michigan than they are today.

As state Representative Rachelle Smit said, “Michigan voters deserve a system they can trust. This executive order puts the spotlight back on a question that should never have been controversial: Are the people casting ballots in our elections actually citizens? The Carter-Baker Commission raised these concerns twenty years ago, and Michigan’s legislature has the authority — and the responsibility — to act now, without waiting for the courts. I’m committed to making sure Michigan meets that standard.”

What the Executive Order Does

The order contains two principal components: First, it directs the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Social Security Administration and other federal databases, to compile and transmit to each state a “State Citizenship List” of confirmed adult U.S. citizens residing in that state at least 60 days before each federal election.

Importantly, the order is explicit that this list does not automatically register anyone to vote. State law and existing registration procedures remain in force. The list is a verification tool, not a voter roll replacement.

Second, the order directs the U.S. Postal Service to create “unique ballot envelope identifiers, such as bar codes” for mail-in and absentee voters and instructs the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on a state-submitted, pre-approved list. States would be required to notify the Postal Service of their intent to use mail voting and submit eligible voter lists at least 60 days before a federal election.

The order also directs the Attorney General to prioritize investigation and prosecution of election officials or private entities that distribute ballots to ineligible individuals. It instructs federal agencies to consider withholding federal funds from non-compliant states.

What About Drop Boxes?

The executive order addresses mail ballot delivery through the U.S. Postal Service. But Michigan’s extensive drop box network operates outside that system entirely. Voters using drop boxes bypass USPS altogether, returning ballots directly to local clerks. The executive order does not, on its face, regulate drop boxes.

This is a notable gap.

Drop boxes introduce many of the same chain-of-custody vulnerabilities the Carter-Baker Commission flagged for mail voting generally — ballots handled outside direct observation, potential for pressure or intimidation in non-public settings, and limited audit trails connecting a returned envelope to the voter who deposited it.

Michigan law require video monitoring of all drop boxes beginning January 1, 2026, mandating that clerks use video surveillance of each drop box during the 75 days before each election and on election day. Michigan Legislature This is a meaningful improvement over prior practice.

However, video monitoring does not address who deposits a ballot. Michigan law prohibits third-party ballot return except for immediate family members, but enforcement of that prohibition without real-time monitoring of every deposit remains a practical challenge for clerks.

MFEI will be watching closely to see whether the administration addresses drop boxes in future rulemaking or in the SAVE America Act, and we encourage Michigan legislators to ensure drop box chain-of-custody standards keep pace with the security standards now being proposed for USPS-transmitted ballots.

Will Michigan Comply?

The short answer, based on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s immediate response, is: No — at least not voluntarily.

Secretary Benson issued a statement calling the order “illegal on its face,” saying “states run elections, not the president,” and characterizing it as an attempt to “create chaos at every step of the election process.” Michigan Secretary of State

This predictable response conveys what every Michigander should understand. Michigan’s Secretary of State has been a consistent opponent of every meaningful election security reform — from noncitizen voter verification, to voter roll maintenance, to government transparency, to the administrative rulemaking litigation that MFEI has supported. Her reflexive rejection of this order before any court has ruled on its validity reflects a posture of resistance, not a legal analysis.

The constitutional questions here are real and will be resolved by courts, not by a Secretary of State’s press release. Trump’s first executive order on elections was repeatedly blocked in federal courts, which ruled the president lacked authority to rewrite election law. votebeat Whether this order fares differently will depend on whether courts distinguish between the President directing federal agencies in their own operations — DHS, SSA, USPS — versus directly mandating changes to state election procedures.

States that do not comply with the executive order are at risk of losing federal funding, CBS News a lever the administration has indicated it intends to use.

MFEI urges Michigan’s legislature to take this moment seriously. Rather than waiting for courts to sort out the boundaries of executive authority, Michigan’s lawmakers have the power, right now, to act legislatively to implement citizenship verification, strengthen absentee ballot chain-of-custody, and ensure Michigan’s election system reflects the standards that the Carter-Baker Commission called for twenty years ago and that a majority of Americans support today.

What Comes Next

The order sets a 60-day deadline for USPS rulemaking and a 90-day deadline for DHS to establish the infrastructure needed to compile and transmit State Citizenship Lists. Both timelines are aggressive, and election law experts across the spectrum have questioned whether these systems can be fully operational before November 2026. Legal challenges are expected immediately.

MFEI will monitor implementation and litigation closely and will keep Michigan voters, clerks, and legislators informed. Whatever the courts ultimately decide, the policy debate this order advances is exactly right. Citizens — and only citizens — should vote in American elections. Ballots should be traceable and auditable. The Carter-Baker Commission said so in 2005. It remains true in 2026.

Michigan Fair Elections Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to election integrity research, public education, and litigation support in Michigan. P.O. Box 41, Stockbridge, MI 49285