Trump's Federal Voter List Order Sparks 23-State Lawsuit as Virginia Redistricting Vote Proceeds

President Donald Trump is facing a multi-state lawsuit over an executive order that would hand the Department of Homeland Security control over who gets to vote by mail in federal elections. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced Friday that the commonwealth has joined 22 other states and the District of Columbia in challenging what he called "a blatant attempt by Donald Trump to sow confusion and distrust in our democratic processes."

The order directs DHS to compile a list of eligible voters using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program—a database designed to verify citizenship for government benefits that has repeatedly flagged actual citizens as ineligible. Under Trump's directive, the United States Postal Service would be barred from sending ballots to anyone not on that federal list.

"This order does not affect balloting for the April 21 referendum, but if left in place it will disenfranchise voters in the November election," Jones said. More than 219,000 Virginians have already voted early by mail in the redistricting referendum, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Constitutional Overreach

Legal experts say the order is dead on arrival in court. "The Election Clause of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, gives primary responsibility for setting election policy to the state legislatures and secondary responsibility to Congress," said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. "It gives zero responsibility to the president or the executive branch, unless Congress has expressly authorized it through some kind of legislation."

Translation: Trump is trying to seize power the Constitution explicitly denies him.

The White House defended the move with boilerplate rhetoric. "Election integrity has always been a top priority for President Trump," said spokesperson Abigail Jackson. "The President will do everything in his power to defend the safety and security of American elections and to ensure that only American citizens are voting in them."

That talking point ignores the fact that noncitizen voting in federal elections is already illegal and vanishingly rare. What the order would actually do is create chaos, suppress turnout, and hand the executive branch unprecedented control over who gets to participate in democracy.

Separate Lawsuit from Civil Rights Groups

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, Common Cause, and Black Voters Matter Fund have filed their own lawsuit challenging the order. "Americans in every corner of our country, rural and urban, Black and white, rich and poor, healthy and infirm, civilian and servicemember, have participated in mail-in voting for decades without issue," said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. "This executive order sows chaos and discourages voter participation in the midterm elections."

Rob Weiner, Voting Rights Project director at the Lawyers' Committee, said he expects the DC court to move quickly. "She has already issued an order in the case saying that she wants us to file stuff this week, so she will move very fast."

Virginia's Voting Record

The stakes are high. Nearly half a million Virginians voted by mail in 2024. In 2022, 285,000 people used mail-in ballots. In 2020, when Virginia first legalized no-excuse absentee voting during the pandemic, more than a million voters cast ballots by mail.

Former Governor Glenn Youngkin had signed an executive order directing Virginia to use the SAVE database for voter verification—the same flawed system Trump now wants to impose nationwide. Current Governor Abigail Spanberger reversed that order and rejoined the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit that helps 26 states share voter data to catch duplicate registrations, deceased voters, and people who have moved.

The SAVE program, by contrast, has a documented history of incorrectly flagging citizens. Using it as the gatekeeper for mail-in voting would inevitably disenfranchise eligible voters—which may be the point.

What Happens Next

The Massachusetts lawsuit is one of multiple legal challenges that will determine whether Trump can unilaterally rewrite election rules in the middle of a midterm cycle. The Constitution is clear: states run elections, not presidents. But this administration has shown little interest in constitutional limits when they get in the way of consolidating power.

For now, Virginia's redistricting referendum proceeds unaffected. But if Trump's order stands, November's federal elections could look very different—and far fewer Americans might get the chance to vote.