Guilherme Botacini
BRASILIA, DF (Folhapress)-United States President Donald Trump signed a decree on Tuesday (25) that changes electoral rules of the country and quotes Brazil and India as good examples of electoral registration security.
“Despite being a pioneer in self -government, the United States now fails to apply basic and necessary electoral protections employed by modern and developed nations, as well as those still under development. India and Brazil, for example, are linking voters to a biometric database, while the United States largely depend on self -declaration of citizenship,” says the decree at the opening.
The reference to Brazil touches one of the most relevant points of the change promoted by the decree: the requirement of citizenship proof to vote. Amid accusations that the claim that lost – and those who earned – were fraudulent, Trump insists that illegal immigrants in the country would have gone to the ballot box, something that is not allowed in the US and may result in conviction, fine and deportation.
“Several federal laws prohibit foreign citizens to register to vote or vote in federal elections. However, states are unable to properly verify voter citizenship and, in recent years, the Justice Department has not prioritized or dedicated sufficient resources to apply these provisions,” the text says.
Similar accusations were made by Trump and allies during the 2024 elections, finally won by the Republican that Joe Biden’s management was recording illegal immigrants as voters. In 2016, the Republican said he would have won Hillary Clinton also in the popular vote, were it not for the alleged votes of irregular immigrants.
Although data show that the number of non -citizens trying to vote in the elections has been derisory, a survey Ipsos released in September last year, shortly before the election, noted that one third of Americans believed that irregular immigrants in the country would vote. Among Republicans, the percentage almost doubled: 65%.
Indicate the inconsistency of the prosecution, which now underlies Trump’s decree, for example, was made by Centro Brennan, linked to the University of New York Law School: in the 2016 election, officers in 42 jurisdictions, responsible for the supervision of 23.5 million voters, referred about 30 cases to investigate non -citizens. The number equals 0.0001% of the votes in these areas.
A more recent audit by Georgia found only 1,319 non -citizens trying to register to vote from 2016 to 2022 -and all were prevented. The state has about 8 million registered voters.
In the decree, the US president uses other examples of practices he considers safer compared to the electoral process in his country, including forms of paper banknotes and limitations in mail voting modalities, another preferred target of his criticism and charges -identified funds are rare, and the method is widely considered safe.
“In the counting of votes, Germany and Canada require the use of paper banknotes, told in public by local employees, which substantially reduces the number of disputes compared to patchwork of voting methods in the United States, which can lead to basic documentation and tracking problems,” the text says.
The decree now published run over measured under analysis by the US Congress. Senate in the Senate specific legislation to demand proof of citizenship at the time of the vote.
Civil rights groups and authorities of some states are concerned about the requirement, which claim to have the potential to deprive of the vote full citizens: also according to Centro Brennan in 2023, it is estimated that 9% of US citizens to vote (about 21.3 million people) do not have easily available citizenship proof -there is no federal ID or CPF in the country.
The decree must be a new focus of judicialization of the Trump agenda, since the Constitution grants authority to the authority about the way of conducting elections. Several orders of the Republican are the target of temporary court processes and blockages, from deportation flights to decrees barring trans people in the Armed Forces.
The president and allies have increased the attack on the judiciary and judges responsible for the cases and experts see signs of a possible crisis between powers if the Trump government refuses to comply with court orders.
