The Daily Fuckup

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington on Oct. 31 blocked the Trump administration from requiring documentary proof of citizenship on the federal voter-registration form. The ruling stopped one piece of President Donald Trump’s election overhaul effort and turned on a simple point of authority: the president could not direct that change on his own. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/034a4d552a978a8f647d95bd3cf38ac0?utm_source=openai))

Kollar-Kotelly wrote that the Constitution assigns election regulation to the states and to Congress, not the president. In her opinion, she said the administration’s proof-of-citizenship directive could not stand because Trump lacked the power to order it. The decision followed earlier litigation over the same executive order, which had already prompted a separate April ruling that temporarily blocked parts of the plan, including the citizenship-proof requirement. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/034a4d552a978a8f647d95bd3cf38ac0?utm_source=openai))

The dispute centered on a March 2025 executive order on elections and what the federal government can put on the national registration form. The administration argued the added paperwork would help ensure only eligible citizens register. Voting-rights groups and Democrats said the requirement would make registration harder for eligible voters who do not have ready access to citizenship documents. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/4b683fe2e1106316fdb05621be9b7d0e?utm_source=openai))

The October ruling did not decide every election-related question raised by the administration’s order. It answered the narrower one: who gets to change the federal voter-registration form. Kollar-Kotelly said that power does not belong to the president alone, which means the citizenship-proof requirement cannot take effect through executive order. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/034a4d552a978a8f647d95bd3cf38ac0?utm_source=openai))