WASHINGTON, DC — THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PROOF-OF-CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENT to vote has been blocked in federal court the second of his policies to hit a legal roadblock on Thursday, April 24. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of federal court in Washington, DC ruled that the Trump administration may not immediately enact certain changes to federal election policies, including the controversial proof-of-citizenship requirement that would be added to the federal voter registration form. Kollar-Kotelly granted a preliminary injunction to halt the immediate implementation of the citizenship requirement while a lawsuit on this is argued. She also blocked Trump’s order requiring public assistance enrollees to prove their citizenship before they can access voter registration forms.
Civil rights groups argue that the proof-of-citizenship requirement is actually a voter suppression tactic that would make it difficult for natural-born U.S. citizens to vote — including women who changed their birth names at marriage. Legal scholars also said the requirement is federal overreach on states’ election policy authority and that it undermines the jurisdiction of the independent and bipartisan Election Assistance Commission over its voting systems.
One aspect of the Trump order that Judge Kollar-Kotelly didn’t block, however, was a deadline for mail-in ballots.
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