Five Democratic-led states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington state—have enacted legislation designed to obstruct federal efforts to scrutinize voter rolls for ineligible individuals, including noncitizens. These state measures aim to shield election processes from federal oversight, despite the Trump administration's stated commitment to preventing non-citizen ballots and ensuring the integrity of the citizen vote.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to unilaterally alter election procedures since returning to the White House last year, following his attempts to implement new voting restrictions that faltered in Congress. He has signed executive orders targeting mail-in voting, which he has characterized as susceptible to fraud, and his administration has acquired records related to the 2020 election from major counties in Georgia and Arizona. The Department of Justice is actively engaged in court battles to gain access to voter rolls in multiple states, seeking evidence of ineligible individuals, including noncitizens, casting ballots.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson affirmed President Trump’s commitment to ensuring “Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters.” Jackson further stated that this pledge was the reason “millions of Americans sent him back to the White House.” When questioned last month about deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers or National Guard troops to polling locations, Trump responded he would do “anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.”
The US Constitution assigns states the primary task of running elections, while Congress holds the power to establish ground rules for federal contests. Maryland state Sen. Cynthia Kagan, a Democrat, co-sponsored a new law aimed at maintaining the state’s deadline for counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, stating, “It’s infuriating that the Trump administration believes they can ignore the Constitution of the United States and try to take over our elections.”
Obstructing National Oversight
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last month that prohibits election officials from providing unauthorized access to voter rolls or voting machines without a court order. The law also criminalizes knowingly taking voted ballots from election officials without a valid warrant. During the signing ceremony, Newsom described the law as necessary “to address the legitimate anxiety” about the administration’s moves.
This California law follows a high-profile seizure of 650,000 ballots from last year’s special election in Riverside County by Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican. Bianco had obtained a local judge’s warrant for what he termed a “fact-finding mission” into potential election fraud. Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court halted Bianco’s probe and ordered the seized ballots preserved, now asking both sides to prepare briefs on how the new state law might affect the case.
Connecticut’s new law, effective 11 days from today, largely bars law enforcement from being within 250 feet of a polling location, ballot dropbox, or vote-counting site without the permission of election officials. State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat and lead sponsor, stated, “The reason why we’ve entertained these steps is because of the shocking and unprecedented statements and actions that Donald Trump and his allies, including in government, have undertaken to threaten and attack our elections.” The law also mandates municipal officials or election workers who receive a subpoena or warrant to notify the attorney general and secretary of state within 36 hours.
In Washington state, a law enacted 3 months ago makes it a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, to disclose personal information from the voter registration file to anyone other than state and local election officials without the secretary of state’s permission. Democratic state Sen. Marcus Riccelli, the measure’s sponsor, clarified that while a government entity could request the information, it “has to go through our secretary of state who manages our statewide voter registration database.”
The Cost to Citizen Self-Determination
Maryland’s statute, enacted 1-2 months ago, is one of 14 states, along with the District of Columbia, that counts mail ballots received after Election Day, allowing a 10-day grace period for ballots postmarked on or before Election Day. The Trump administration is supporting a Republican National Committee push before the US Supreme Court to stop the counting of ballots in federal elections that arrive after Election Day, with a decision expected soon.
In Colorado, a law signed earlier this month by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis prohibits interference with voting within a newly established 100-foot buffer zone around ballot drop boxes and polling locations. It also grants the governor, with advisory committee input, the authority to declare an emergency to allow elections to proceed in the event of any disruption.
Republican lawmakers have argued that these Democratic initiatives interfere with legitimate federal scrutiny of elections. California state Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican opposing his state’s new law, expects a legal challenge, citing potential violations of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. Strickland stated, “I think that we should have the ability at all levels of government to be able to monitor elections to make sure elections are done properly,” adding, “What do you have to hide?”
Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and former White House adviser on voting during the Biden administration, asserted that states “just don’t have to listen” when the president orders actions, claiming states are in charge of the process. The FBI’s seizure of 2020 election records in Fulton County, Georgia, about 5 months ago, was justified by claims from 2020 election deniers, according to an affidavit unsealed after a legal challenge from local officials. This ongoing conflict highlights the struggle between national efforts to secure the citizen franchise and state-level resistance to federal oversight of election integrity.