DENVER — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew criticism from Colorado election officials and political experts, who expect the courts could strike it down.
The executive order would create a list of voters eligible to receive a mail ballot. It then instructs the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver or return ballots from those individuals.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold criticized the move.
"The big picture is it's trying to suppress the vote," Griswold said. "That's what this executive order is about."
Denver7 asked the secretary of state how this executive order could potentially impact elections and voting in Colorado, Griswold explained the directive's requirements.
"What this executive order does is have the Department of Homeland Security create a list of voters that can receive a mail ballot, and then it tells the Postal Service to only deliver or return ballots from we assume those people," Griswold said.
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Trump is also calling for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking, according to the executive order, which was first reported by the Daily Caller. Federal funding could be withheld from states and localities that don’t comply.
“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It's horrible what's going on,” Trump said, repeating his false allegations about mail ballots as he signed the order. “I think this will help a lot with elections.”
Phillip Chen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Denver, said the move could be significant for the state, should it be enforced.
"I think the big thing for Colorado is that many, many people vote by mail in Colorado," Chen said. "Lots of people get their ballots through the U.S. Postal Service."
Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado Clerks Association and former Arapahoe County clerk and recorder, agreed with others Denver7 spoke with that he doesn't believe the executive order will make it far.
"The Constitution clearly defines the powers around setting election law, to Congress and to the states, not to the executive branch," Crane said.
He argued that states run elections far more effectively than the federal government.
"The state does this better than the federal government ever could," Crane said. "Whoever is advising the president on this obviously is not an election administrator or familiar with what happens in the states on election administration."
Griswold, Chen, and Crane all told me they expect the courts could strike the order down.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
