Pro-Trump lawyers draft executive order to reshape US elections: Report

By Gizem Nisa Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - A group of pro-Trump attorneys and activists in the US is circulating a draft presidential executive order they say would declare a national emergency over alleged foreign interference in the 2020 election, giving President Donald Trump sweeping authority over voting, according to local media.

ABC News reported Thursday that the 17-page draft, which Trump has reviewed, would mandate voter ID, hand-counted ballots and ban mail-in voting ahead of midterm elections in November.

“The most important provision, if you ask me, is the hand counting. Get rid of the machines. That’s what we need to do right away,” Florida attorney Peter Ticktin, a lead drafter, told ABC News

Ticktin acknowledged that state legislatures control elections under the Constitution but argued that “we really do have an election emergency right now.”

Trump has teased similar measures on social media, writing Feb. 13 that “there will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not! Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots.”

Pro-Trump figures including Michael Flynn, Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne have reportedly been involved in advising on the draft, which sources say could be incorporated into a formal executive order.

Democrats have strongly criticized the plan as unconstitutional, with Rep. Ted Lieu posting on the US social media company X’s platform that “there’s no national emergency exception to Art 1, Sec 4 of the Constitution. States regulate elections unless Congress passes law.”

The Washington Post first reported on the draft order.