By Jude Joffe-Block
Voters at a polling place last month in Shelby, Mich. The U.S. has never attempted to create a comprehensive list of American citizens before this administration. Maintaining voter lists is the responsibility of states, as the Constitution dictates that states control elections.

Overview

The Trump administration is advancing an unprecedented project to compile state-by-state lists of individuals deemed eligible citizens over the age of 18 for the upcoming midterm elections. However, the administration will not meet its own deadline to publish this information on a portal, which was set for September 4, 60 days before Election Day.

Legal Developments

Department of Justice attorneys informed opposing counsel in two lawsuits that they would provide 48 hours' notice before launching the state citizenship portal, according to recent court filings. The U.S. has never attempted to create such lists before, and the responsibility for maintaining voter lists lies with the states.

The basis for this initiative stems from an executive order signed by Trump on March 31. Although a lower court had blocked key parts of this order in 23 states and Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court stayed that injunction, allowing the plan to proceed.

Executive Order Details

The March 31 executive order directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration to create "State Citizenship Lists" of individuals they believe are citizens in each state. These lists must be sent to state officials no fewer than 60 days before each regularly scheduled Federal election.

The order also states that the U.S. attorney general will prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local officials who issue federal ballots to ineligible voters. Jules Torti, counsel at the nonprofit Protect Democracy, noted, "States here have a strong incentive to actually use these lists to try to avoid federal investigation. But we know that these lists are going to be based on really inaccurate data. So the risk of disenfranchisement here is really, really palpable."