LWV supports citizens' right to vote*
Voting Rights Changes since January 2025
March 25, 2025: Executive order*
* Court rulings rendered the executive order largely unenforceable (see below).
This executive order (Order) attempts to:
- Require further proof of citizenship for voter registration beyond what is required today.
- Require paper ballots only
- Restrict mail-in voting
- Use federal agencies to verify citizenship and share personal data.
- Decertifying voting machines
- Privacy concerns with DOGE accessing voter data.
- Withold federal grant funding from states counting mail-in ballots received after election day.
April 2025 federal court rulings: As a result of multiple lawsuits, parts of the Order were blocked by a federal court that determined the Order violates our Consitution because the President does not have the power to regulate federal elections. The ruling further determined that the Order also violates existing laws like the National Voter Registration Act.
April 2025: SAVE Act HR22 & February 2026: SAVE Act HR7296*
* The SAVE Act is in Congress, not yet enacted into law.
Why 2 SAVE Acts? H.R. 22 failed to gain Congressional approval in April. Bills don’t carry over between sessions of Congress, so H.R. 7296 (Act) was introduced in February as another attempt to gain Congressional approval of similar policy. The Act is also similar to the executive Order above. While the executive Order limits itself from being enforceable and is mostly blocked or unsettled in court, the Act, if approved by Congress, would become federal law.
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Proof of citizenship will be mandatory to register to vote. Citizens would have to provide documents showing U.S. citizenship (e.g., passport, birth certificate or military ID with proof of birthplace). If a citizen changed their name since birth, they would need their proof of citizenship (passport, birth certificate) and the evidence of a name change.
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States would be required to follow more formal processes with Federal monitoring and approval.
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Criminal penalties would be imposed on election officials who knowingly or unknowingly allowed improper registration.
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Photo ID (hardcopy only, not digital) would be requried at the polls: Ballots mailed in would have to include a copy of the photo ID.
- States would be reauired to send voter roll information to DHS for citizenship verification.
January 28, 2026: FBI Confiscates state election records
For the first time in United States history, federal agents have executed a warrant to take original, certified election materials from a state or local election office. A search warrant authorizing the seizure of the 2020 election ballots and related records in Fulton County, Georgia was signed by Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.The warrant directed federal agents to seize physical ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images, and voter rolls from the 2020 presidential election records as part of a federal investigation. Our Constitution specifies that states have primary authority to administer federal elections.
LWV Legal Action To Preserve Voting Rights
- League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit in coordination with other voting rights groups and lawsuits by attorneys general from several states.
- League of Women Voters submitted comments to the Election Assistance Commission's (EAC) Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) on July 02, 2025
Additional Information...
3 minute video on the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
Court cases across the nation to protect voting rights.
List of lawsuits recently filed against all executive orders.
If your voting rights have been violated: Contact the California Department of Justice here.
