Trump’s Anti-Voter EO Could Disenfranchise Hundreds of Thousands of Trans People
The order, like similar state-level policies, would disenfranchise trans voters en masse.
President Donald Trump issued a wide-reaching, constitutionally contested executive order on Tuesday — “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” — stoking false claims about election fraud, invalidating mail-in ballots received after Election Day, and mandating documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal races. Should the order be allowed to take full effect, it would disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans, especially trans voters.
“The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election,” the order reads.
It also enables an unelected, unappointed government operant, Elon Musk, and his pet project at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to “review each State’s publicly available voter registration list and available records concerning voter list maintenance [...] including through subpoena where necessary.”
Civil rights organizations across the board have condemned the edict as a direct attack on democracy. The ACLU dubbed it “the Anti-Voter Executive Order.” Trump’s execution of the policy also evidently violates constitutional separation of powers, which grants state and local actors, not the Executive Branch, the right to determine most voting provisions.
According to the Center for American Progress (CAP), the order makes passports important to guaranteeing an American’s right to vote. But roughly half of all adult citizens—about 146 million people—do not have a passport.
Meanwhile, Trump has made it illegal for trans people to get passports that match their gender identity. Trans people have reported their passports being delayed, seized or withheld.
Discord between the genders listed on one’s various documents, or between documents and one’s gender presentation, puts trans votership at risk. The government may deny trans voter registrations, or contest and discard ballots cast by trans voters. Poll workers may also be empowered to harass or turn away voters they assume to be trans, whether or not this is actually the case.
Some election locales have resorted to using birth certificates, but this would not be any better for trans Americans. According to CAP, “Birth certificates are among the most difficult documents to update to accurately reflect chosen name and gender [...] Existing studies show 44 percent of transgender adult respondents had updated their name legally on their IDs, but only 18 percent of transgender respondents who go by a different name had successfully updated their name on their birth certificate.”
The requirements for a birth certificate sex change also differ from state to state. Some states, such as Georgia, require a trans person to undergo gender reassignment surgery before they can update their birth certificate — a set of highly invasive procedures that only a minority of trans people opt to do, can afford to do, or can access, period, on account of escalating government attacks against trans-affirming health care.
During the 2025 legislative session, at least 29 bills proposed across 15 states would make it even harder for trans people to acquire a proper government ID. These kinds of policies “can cause issues when registering to vote or casting a ballot, particularly in person, as transgender voters have been accused of fraud when attempting to vote with a mismatched name or gender marker on their ID,” a statement by the League of Women Voters declared. “Transgender voters already face barriers to participating in civic life. More than 30% of trans people report facing harassment due to their presenting gender not matching their ID, including at the polls. Voting must not be associated with fear, humiliation, and bigotry.”
It’s not just trans and gender nonconforming people who should be worried — most every marginalized group will be impacted by this measure, including immigrants, people of color, the elderly, the disability community, and anyone who may change their name throughout their lifetime, namely married women.
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a New Hampshire resident, whose polling station had adopted Trumpian election policies at a local level, had sent her home from the voting booth multiple times before they let her fill out a ballot. They repeatedly cast doubt on her eligibility as a voter and the veracity of her identity. She needed her driver’s license for a photo ID, then her birth certificate to prove her citizenship, then a marriage license to justify why her birth name and given name differed. Reports indicate she is an American-born, cisgender woman.
You can view Trump’s full executive order attached below.
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I just want to be left alone. We dont even want anything. We've barely ever even asked for anything other than to be let to live in peace. These people are evil.
Because, cruelty is the object.