How could Trump’s recent executive order overhauling U.S. elections impact California?

President Donald Trump‘s recent executive order overhauling U.S. elections has drawn swift opposition from California leaders and advocacy groups who say it threatens how the state conducts elections.

Signed Tuesday, March 25, the order calls for stricter voting rules, including requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to register, not counting ballots received after Election Day and prohibiting non-U.S. citizens from donating in certain elections. Acceptable documents for proving citizenship under the order include a U.S. passport, a U.S. military card indicating citizenship or any valid federal or state-issued photo ID confirming citizenship.

California allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within seven days — a policy that could be impacted if the federal government withholds funding from states that accept late-arriving ballots, as Trump’s order proposes.

Most Californians vote by mail. According to the secretary of state, about 80% of ballots in California were cast by mail in the 2024 general election.

And in California, most ballots are also counted after Election Day. While early voting and mail-in ballots received before Election Day are processed and posted on election night, vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, along with provisional ballots, are counted during the official canvass period within 30 days after the election.

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Rick Hasen, who leads the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law, said the order will likely face legal challenges but warned that if it holds up in court, it would shift control over federal elections from states and Congress to the presidency.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution grants states the authority to determine the qualifications for voting in congressional elections.

The executive order, would “prevent only a tiny amount of noncitizen voter registration but stop millions of eligible voters, who do not have easy access to documents, such as passports, from registering to vote,” Hasen said.

Trump’s order directs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission — an independent agency that certifies voting equipment and distributes funding to states for improvements to voting technology — to require proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form. Hasen argued the president lacks the authority to impose such a change unless courts accept a broad interpretation of executive power.

Election officials in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties largely avoided taking a stance on the order, instead emphasizing their duty to follow state and federal election laws.

“Elections in California are governed by state law — including the California Elections Code — as well as specific provisions in federal statutes such as the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act,” said Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk. “As always, we will thoughtfully approach any potential changes to voter registration and election processes with a commitment to the voter experience, ensuring all eligible voters have convenient and equitable access to register and fully participate in our democracy.”

Orange County Registrar Bob Page said he will continue to comply with existing election laws, including those that “prioritize voter access and participation in elections.”

In California, knowingly lying about one’s eligibility to vote on a registration affidavit is a felony, punishable by up to three years in county jail. State law also bars the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing information about undocumented driver’s license applicants with the secretary of state for voter registration.

Page said that the secretary of state’s office has informed county officials it is reviewing the order and will provide further guidance.

Riverside County registrar spokesperson Elizabeth Florer said the office “follows state laws and (is) awaiting further guidance from the secretary of state.”

San Bernardino County elections officials also said they are reviewing the order.

“Over the coming months, (we) will determine its impact on voter registration and election processes in anticipation of the June 2026 federal election,” spokesperson Melissa Eickman said.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber called Trump’s order a “calculated and dramatic assault on every American’s right to vote” and said it would make voter registration and ballot access more burdensome.

“Make no mistake, President Trump, through this action, shows that he fears voters and America’s longstanding principles of democracy,” Weber said, vowing to ensure all eligible Californians can “freely and securely participate in our democracy.”

California Common Cause, a pro-democracy watchdog group, also denounced the order as a voter suppression tactic.

“A president does not set election law for California and never will,” said Russia Chavis Cardenas, the group’s deputy director.

But not all reactions to the order were negative. Some Republicans welcomed the move, including Matt Gunderson, who unsuccessfully ran for California’s 49th Congressional District in 2024 and is now working to get signatures for a ballot measure in November 2026 to require voter ID in the state.

He dismissed concerns about voter suppression, calling it “almost comical.”

“This is a voter security issue,” said Gunderson. “You have to have an ID to buy beer, get on an airplane or go to Costco.”

Gunderson also called for stricter rules on mail-in ballots, suggesting they should only be sent to people who are physically disabled or who request them in advance.

“I’m OK with only mailing ballots to people who specifically request it. Let’s set a deadline that’s a week before the election to ensure it arrives on Election Day,” he said.

Meanwhile in Sacramento

It was voter intimidation that got Sen. Tom Umberg into politics in the first place.

Umberg, a Democrat who represents a district that spans northern Orange County and a bit of Los Angeles County, was a federal prosecutor based in Orange County in 1988 when he heard reports that uniformed guards stood sentry outside polling places in Santa Ana, holding signs in English and Spanish that said “non-citizens can’t vote.”

It turned out the uniformed people had been hired by the local GOP, setting off an FBI probe into voter intimidation.

It also sparked Umberg’s political career. He’s finishing up his final term in the state Senate, where he chairs the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.

“The event that happened in 1988, I thought that was something that happens in third-world countries, where individuals are intimidated in exercising their right to vote,” Umberg recalled. “I thought this couldn’t happen in Orange County, couldn’t happen in our democracy.”

As for the president’s latest executive order, Umberg predicted a legal challenge. It’s up to Congress, Umberg said, to change election law, not the president.

“We should be confident that we will fight this thing to the U.S. Supreme Court, that it is foundational to our democracy that the states have the ability to regulate the time, place and manner of elections” so long as they don’t exclude people based on race, gender or other identified protected classes, Umberg said.

“The net impact of what the president is trying to do is disenfranchise voters,” he said. “I think that’s his goal, and I believe California will fight it.”

“He cannot, by executive order, impose these voting restrictions. He lacks that authority — period,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “My office stands ready to hold President Trump accountable.”

Meanwhile, state legislators — both Democrats and Republicans — are working through several bills this year meant to make voting more accessible in California.

There’s an effort from Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, to ensure that schools and other public buildings serving as polling places provide accessible parking for people who need curbside voting, the ability for someone to cast a ballot outside the voting area when the polling place is not accessible to them.

Another bill, from Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, would require school districts to ensure students receive information about pre-registering to vote before they complete the 11th grade. Pérez, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said in a bill analysis that the idea is to address low pre-voter registration in the state and ensure younger Californians have the resources they need to start voting when they become eligible to do so.

And then there are efforts to ensure free, digital precinct maps are available from registrars if someone requests one and to expand the number of languages in which ballots and other election materials are available to voters.

For Umberg, there are two priorities he considers when it comes to any elections bill: Will it increase accessibility, and will it ensure the state’s election system remains secure?

Still, there are also efforts from Republicans that more closely mirror Trump’s stance.

New Sen. Steven Choi, R-Irvine, for example, has a legislative package billed as an effort to “strengthen public trust in elections,” including local control over voter ID laws and a deadline to count ballots that come in by Election Day. In California, ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted as long as they are received within seven days after the election.

However, with a Democratic supermajority in Sacramento, those Republican-led efforts are unlikely to gain traction.