April 17, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As oral arguments on President Trump’s illegal March 25 executive order (EO) were underway before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes joined All Voting is Local and Voting Rights Lab for a media briefing about the EO, the SAVE Act, and related legislation advancing in state houses nationwide. The SAVE Act, and similar state bills, would block millions of eligible citizens from participating in our elections by requiring they provide a passport, birth certificate, or other documents proving citizenship to register to vote.
In the briefing, Secretary Fontes discussed not only the administrative challenges presented by the executive order, but also the authority of the president to dictate election law:
“Election administration, and the rules around elections, are reserved to the states — and Congress can make some rules regarding those things…. This is a separation of powers issue. This is not his business. This is not for the executive to dictate.
“In this republic, it is the states who run elections, and run election law — and Congress can also jump in. It has to originate there — that’s what the Constitution says, and that’s why so many states have sued, particularly under the separation of powers notion here. At its very basis, this is the problem.”
Voting Rights Lab Senior Policy Adviser Liz Avore detailed how a number of states have pursued legislation similar to those in Trump’s EO so far this year — 24 states have considered bills to impose or expand proof of citizenship requirements and 16 states have considered bills to shorten ballot return deadlines:
“There have been multiple lawsuits filed challenging the President’s authority to upend our elections the way he outlined in his executive order, and by the administration’s own admission in recently-filed court documents, it does not have the authority to do much of what it is saying.
“But even if not a single tenet of the executive order stands up to legal challenge, it is clear that changing federal law was never the administration’s intent here: The goal of the executive order was to send clear marching orders to the states – and to Congress – to tell them exactly what President Trump wants them to do. And many are heeding his directive.”
All Voting is Local Executive Vice President for Data & Research Nicholas Martinez discussed his experience as a former election official — and the challenges ahead for state and local election officials given recent federal action:
“As a former elections official, I can tell you that similar policies and suggested directives, like calling into question the validity of voting machines, aggressive voter purges for registration and list maintenance, and creating new hurdles to register, cause disruption and confusion. This makes it more difficult for people, not just voters, but the election administrators who help people vote.
“The thing that concerns me most today is the political pressure from the EO and the pending SAVE Act and the bureaucrats willing to facilitate anti-voter policies. Just recently, there have been news reports that Secretaries of State from FL, MS, LA, and OH are willing participants in spearheading the implementation of the EO. All Voting Is Local wants to make it clear that election officials still have the power to defend the rights of their voters. State and local election officials have the power to resist and challenge the executive order by refusing to implement provisions that conflict with state and federal law.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
- Voting Rights Lab Analysis: Trump Executive Order Sends Message to State Allies to Implement Upheaval of Election Laws
- Voting Rights Lab Analysis: Voter ID is NOT Documentary Proof of Citizenship. Here’s Why That Matters.
- Voting Rights Lab Analysis: There Are Ways to Modernize Our Elections. The SAVE Act Isn’t One of Them.
- All Voting is Local Data & Research Analysis: Understanding the Flawed Data Methodologies Underlying Mass Voter Challenges
For view a recording of today’s briefing, or for more information, resources, or post-event interviews, contact:
Will Soltero: [email protected], (401) 234-3979
Kawana Lloyd: [email protected], (240) 472-2860