President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week to improve the integrity of American elections.
“Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,” the order said, adding that countries like India and Brazil now tie voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States allows people to use the honor system when stating that they are a citizen with the right to vote.
In Germany and Canada, paper ballots are required, and Denmark and Sweden limit mail-in voting to those who are unable to vote in person. Those countries do not count ballots that come in late, regardless of the postmark, while in the US, ballots are counted even if they arrive many days after Election Day.
In Alaska, ballots can arrive 15 days after Election Day and still be counted, which adds to the uncertainty of outcomes and feeds mistrust in the process, due to the ranked-choice ballot system that cannot be employed until the ballots are all in.
The executive order includes:
- Mandatory proof of citizenship: The Election Assistance Commission is now required to obtain government-issued proof of US citizenship from individuals registering to vote.
- Interagency data sharing: Federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration, must provide states with access to federal databases to verify voter eligibility and citizenship.
- Enforcement of election laws: The United States Attorney General is directed to prioritize prosecution of non-citizen voting and related offenses, utilizing Department of Homeland Security records and coordinating with state attorneys general.
- Voting equipment standards: The order mandates updates to security standards for voting equipment, including the requirement for a voter-verifiable paper ballot record and the prohibition of ballots that contain counted votes within barcodes or QR codes.
- Election Day compliance: States must count only those ballots received by Election Day for federal elections, with federal funding contingent upon adherence to this mandate. This will impact Alaska’s elections. Alaska has the longest period during which ballots can arrive after Election Day and still be counted in a general election. No other state offers a longer period for late-arriving ballots to be counted, making Alaska’s 15-day window the most generous in the US for general elections.
