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Can Trans People Still Vote in the US?
Trump’s March 25, 2025 executive order will require U.S. voters to show ID that displays our citizenship and gender
In this executive order signed today, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” Trump complains that U.S. voters often simply attest to our own citizenship when we register to vote. He wants us to prove it.
I’m going to call this Trump’s ninth anti-trans executive order. I previously wrote about his orders for no gender identity, no military, no gender-affirming healthcare until our 19th birthdays, no social transition in school, no sports, calling us anti-Christian, no human rights, and no trans acknowledgment of any kind in school for people of any age.
Trump’s people designed this order, together with the others, to target trans people — though this one is more subtle about it.
Within 30 days, the Election Assistance Commission must modify the national mail voter registration form. The form is so named because the future voter submits their registration form, not necessarily their ballot, by mail. This is part of federal law: 52 U.S.C. 20503 and 20508.
Trump ordered that the form be modified to require “documentary proof of United States citizenship.” He also ordered that a “State or local official” record the details of each person’s citizenship documentation. He acknowledged that the 20508 law doesn’t allow him to demand that these documents be notarized.
Under the order, people registering to vote must provide a copy of one of these:
(A) a United States passport;
(B) an identification document compliant with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–13, Div. B) that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States;
(C) an official military identification card that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States; or
(D) a valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification if such identification…
