On March 31, 2026 — one day before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on birthright citizenship — President Trump signed an executive order titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections" that directed the creation of a federal apparatus to control who can vote and how they receive ballots.
The order has three components. First, it directs DHS, working with the Social Security Administration, to "compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State." This creates a federal voter eligibility list — something that has never existed in American history, where voter registration has always been a state function.
Second, it instructs USPS to "transmit ballots only to individuals enrolled on a State-specific Mail-in and Absentee Participation List, ensuring that only eligible absentee or mail-in voters receive absentee or mail-in ballots." This gives the federal postal service gatekeeper authority over who receives mail ballots.
Third, it orders USPS to place ballots in secure envelopes with unique trackable barcodes, creating a federal tracking system for individual ballots.
Implementation deadlines are aggressive: USPS must initiate proposed rulemaking within 60 days, DHS must build the citizenship list infrastructure within 90 days, and any final USPS rule is due within 120 days — all before the November 2026 midterms. Election law expert Rick Hasen at UCLA called the order likely unconstitutional. States and voting rights advocates immediately promised legal challenges. The order represents the culmination of the voter data seizure campaign that began with DOJ demand letters to 44 states in May 2025.