Federal judge rules Trump can’t require citizenship proof on the federal voting form

NEW YORK AP President Donald Trump s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced a federal judge ruled Friday U S District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington D C sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over his executive order to overhaul U S elections She ruled that the proof-of-citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers dealing a blow to the administration and its allies who have argued that such a mandate is necessary to restore community confidence that only Americans are voting in U S elections Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for balloting regulation to the States and to Congress this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her opinion She further emphasized that on matters related to setting qualifications for voting and regulating federal polling procedures the Constitution assigns no direct role to the President in either domain Kollar-Kotelly echoed comments she made when she granted a preliminary injunction over the issue The ruling grants the plaintiffs a partial summary judgment that prohibits the proof-of-citizenship requirement from going into effect It says the U S Polling Assistance Commission which has been considering adding the requirement to the federal voter form is permanently barred from taking action to do so In a announcement Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU one of the plaintiffs in the event called the ruling a clear conquest for our democracy President Trump s attempt to impose a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form is an unconstitutional power grab A message seeking comment from the White House was not this instant returned While a top priority for Republicans attempts to implement documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting have been fraught The U S House passed a citizenship mandate last spring that has stalled in the Senate and several attempts to pass similar statute in the states have proved equally complex Such requirements have created problems and confusion for voters when they have taken effect at the state level It presents particular hurdles for married women who have changed their name since they might need to show birth certificates and marriage certificates as well as state IDs Those complications arose earlier this year when a proof-of-citizenship requirement took effect for the first time during local elections in New Hampshire In Kansas a proof-of-citizenship requirement that was in effect for three years created chaos before it was overturned in federal court Selected otherwise eligible people were prevented from registering to vote Voting by noncitizens also has been shown to be rare The lawsuit brought by the DNC and various civil rights groups will continue to play out to allow the judge to consider other challenges to Trump s order That includes a requirement that all mailed ballots be received rather than just postmarked by Poll Day Other lawsuits against Trump s poll executive order are ongoing In early April Democratic state attorneys general sought a separate federal court to reject Trump s executive order Washington and Oregon where virtually all voting is done with mailed ballots followed with their own lawsuit against the order