Trump ruffles feathers on elections

SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY JWR UPDATE. IT'S FREE. (AND NO SPAM!) Just click here.

Democrats are outraged at an executive order that Donald Trump issued to regulate elections. But while the president's authority in this area is limited, he's more aligned with voter sentiment than his critics.

The order promotes proof of citizenship requirements and seeks to ensure all mail ballots are returned by Election Day. It also instructs the Justice Department to prioritize voter fraud and other election crimes. States that don't comply may be threatened with a loss of federal funding.

Like many of Trump's initiatives, his election reform plan pushes boundaries and relies on creative legal interpretations of current law. The Constitution gives the states the power to set the "time, places and manner" of their own elections, while allowing Congress to pass election guidelines that override state legislation. The executive branch has little role in setting rules for the conduct of federal elections.

Several state attorneys general said they'll contest provisions of the executive order, The New York Times reported, and many legal experts expect they are likely to prevail.

The changes would certainly affect Nevada, which has few identification requirements at the polls and allows mail ballots to be counted even if they are received up to three days after Election Day.

Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager issued a blistering news release on Wednesday calling the executive order "shameful" and "an affront to Nevada's voters." Yeager added that lawmakers would not even consider Trump's proposals because "the president cannot be permitted to blackmail the state into remaking its election laws to suit his personal partisan preferences and his campaign to weaken our democracy."

His reaction is to be expected, but it's notable that Yeager didn't even mention the constitutional issues. And his concern about "remaking" election laws for "partisan" gain is risible, given that's precisely what state Democrats did by making permanent COVID-era reforms intended to ensure voter participation during a pandemic.

In fact, rather than being an "affront to Nevada voters," it's highly likely that state residents would favor some of Trump's proposals, including voter ID requirements and a more reasonable timetable for the return of mail ballots to ensure the timely tabulation of results. A Gallup poll from late 2024 found that 84 percent of respondents favored requiring photo ID to vote and 83 percent backed laws demanding that those registering to vote provide proof of citizenship. Yet Democrats have become wholly invested in smearing Americans who embrace such common-sense reform as racist Jim Crow sympathizers.

Trump's executive order faces an uphill legal battle given the explicit language of the Constitution. But the president is more in touch with public opinion on voter ID and mail ballots than Nevada Democrats, who would prefer that neither of those ideas ever make it to the ballot.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• Chuck Schumer wants more of your hard-earned money
• GOP must rediscover importance of judicial review
• And about those Medicaid 'cuts'
• White House transparency should extend to records
• Credit card bill will hurt those it's supposed to help
• Socialism surprise? Universal basic income fails yet another test
• The irony of the push for 'media literacy' in schools
• Revealing True Trump
• Biden Billions for virtually nothing
• Federal court puts an end to 'net neutrality' nonsense
• Dems still remain in deep denial over election defeat
• Syria's dictator falls victim to Hamas' grave miscalculation
• Gerrymandering for me, but not for thee
• Many seeds sowed Trump's return to the White House
• Harris-Biden again embolden Iran's proxy terrorists
• Kam can't run from Biden's many messes
• Courts rebuke Biden's Title IX rewrite
• Biden cover-up mirrors previous Dem efforts to deceive
• Irony alert: Biden warns Trump
• Stop hiding the Hur tapes
• The rich pay more than their 'fair share' of taxes
• 'Most predictable crisis' in history continuing as predicted
• Don't feed the pander-bear
• 'Grading for equity' leads to less learning
• Report again highlights need for entitlement reform
• Wage law is good news for . .. the robots
• Joe Biden should commit to presidential debates
• Biden tax plan would pummel average Americans
• Iran's brazen attack on Israel was 'utterly unsuccessful'
• More free stuff
• Biden proposes another massive spending spree
• Dems increasingly desperate over No Labels
• Biden hams it up during stemwinder
• Economies roar in red states
• To establish 'absolute tyranny over these States'
• Biden condemns himself in attack on shrinkflation
• If only Taylor Swift were dating the national debt
• Biden bows to Putin, environmentalists
• Defenders of 'democracy' want Voter ID off ballot
• 'No one is safe if they had any hand in' Oct. 7
• Biden infrastructure bill: A failure to launch
• US government revenues hit record highs
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Biden needs to stop the mixed messages
• The hating class as brave defenders
• Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists
• White House green Slush fund throwing around cash
• Biden immigration policies souring even Dems
• Dems fret as the bad news mounts for Biden
• Billions in coronavirus money still sitting around
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Chicago takes victim blaming to an absurd new low
• The utter failure of money to improve education
• Group identity drives American division
• The downside of Biden's drug price control scheme
• WARNING: Here's why top insurers are fleeing
• 'They even laughed in my face'
• Red states power Biden's economy
• 'If you have private insurance, you can' … OOPS!
• Ignoring the Bill of Rights when its convenient
• Hunter cops a plea --- but the Biden probes continue
• Will we every truly know the depth of pandemic fraud?
• Hello there, Big Brother! Please, come right in
• Its not perfect, but it's a start on immigration reform
• IRS wants to branch out
• Gas stove ban conspiracy theory comes true
• Biden's busy bureaucrats beef up regulatory state
• Don't even dare think of emulamating New Yawk!
• Where have all the nation's college students gone?
• Soft-on-crime policies hit hard wall of political reality
• Joe Biden and Monty Python is no comedy
• Global warming was supposed to wreak havoc on polar bears. Looks like someone forgot to tell the polar bears