Democrats Don't Want Election Integrity

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), along with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump on February 28, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging his executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” Signed on March 25, 2025, the order aims to strengthen election integrity by requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration, banning the counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day, and enhancing federal oversight to prevent non-citizen voting. The DNC argues that the order oversteps Trump’s authority, violates the Constitution’s delegation of election oversight to states and Congress, and threatens to disenfranchise voters. However, critics of the DNC’s lawsuit, including some voices on X, contend that the real motivation behind the legal challenge is to preserve mechanisms that allegedly enable electoral fraud, such as lax voter verification and extended mail-in ballot deadlines, which they claim Democrats have historically exploited to their advantage.

The executive order’s provisions directly target vulnerabilities that some conservatives argue have been used to manipulate election outcomes. For instance, requiring proof of citizenship could prevent non-citizens from voting—a practice that, while rare according to studies like the 2016 Brennan Center for Justice report (which found only 30 suspected cases out of 23.5 million votes), has been a persistent concern for election integrity advocates. Additionally, the order’s ban on counting late-arriving mail-in ballots aims to enforce a uniform Election Day deadline, addressing concerns raised by Trump and his allies about ballots arriving after polls close, which they claim can be manipulated in Democratic strongholds. Critics of the DNC, including some Republican figures like Rep. Bryan Steil, who called the order a “welcome action to secure our elections,” argue that the Democrats’ fierce opposition stems from a fear that these measures will close loopholes they’ve relied on—such as delayed ballot counting in key districts or insufficient voter roll maintenance—that have allegedly allowed them to tip close races in their favor.

The DNC’s lawsuit, backed by prominent Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, frames the executive order as an “unconstitutional power grab” that undermines democracy. However, skeptics of the DNC’s narrative point to the party’s historical resistance to voter ID laws and other integrity measures, suggesting that their legal action is less about protecting voters and more about maintaining a system that gives them an edge. For example, the order’s push to allow federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to share citizenship data with states could make it harder for ineligible voters to remain on rolls—a practice some conservatives allege has been ignored in Democrat-led states to inflate voter numbers. While the DNC claims the order will disproportionately harm groups like military voters and married women due to documentation issues, opponents argue this is a distraction from the real issue: that stricter rules might hinder their ability to engage in what some call “strategic voting practices,” fueling a broader debate about whether the Democrats’ commitment to “fair elections” is genuine or a cover for preserving an electoral advantage.