Litigation over Executive Order 14248 has already tested the limits of federal election authority. A separate draft tied to the 2026 midterms has renewed that dispute, even as Trump says he is not considering it.
President Donald Trump’s March 25, 2025, election executive order is already the subject of court fights that have paused or blocked some provisions. That legal record is the immediate backdrop for a 17-page working document that, according to PBS News, contemplates far broader federal intervention in the 2026 midterm elections.
The document is not an adopted order. Trump told PBS he was not considering declaring a national emergency around the midterms, and the White House said outside advocates routinely offer policy ideas to administration officials.
Existing litigation has already limited parts of the 2025 order
Executive Order 14248, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” addresses issues including the Election Assistance Commission, the federal voter-registration form, mail-ballot requirements, state election-database access, federal election funding conditions and voting systems.
According to Congress’s Congressional Research Service, a federal court in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction in April that paused some provisions of the order. A federal court in Massachusetts issued an injunction in June blocking additional provisions in a case brought by multiple states.
Washington and Oregon also separately challenged the order. The cases could help determine whether particular executive-branch election requirements may take effect and where presidential authority ends.
States remain the principal election administrators
The Constitution gives states the initial and principal responsibility for administering elections within their jurisdictions. Congress has a limited role in regulating the time, place and manner of federal elections, but presidential authority does not displace state election systems without a valid legal basis.
That division matters because election rules are carried out by state and local offices. States set many procedures, train poll workers and run polling places.
A national-emergency declaration can activate powers Congress has provided by statute. It does not itself establish authority to direct states to replace or rewrite their election procedures.
The circulating draft imagines a much larger federal role
PBS News reported reviewing a 17-page working document circulating among some Trump allies. The proposal envisions a president declaring a national emergency over alleged foreign interference and then making major changes to the conduct of the 2026 midterms.
PBS reported that the document includes nationwide hand-marked paper ballots, public hand counts, county-based voter re-registration, documentary proof of citizenship and voter-identification requirements at polling places.
Trump said he was not considering the emergency declaration described in the document. The proposal therefore does not change how Americans register or vote.
Peter Ticktin, an attorney and longtime Trump acquaintance who confirmed to PBS that the document had circulated among supporters, said a president may act during an emergency involving foreign interference. Voting-rights advocates and election-law specialists cited by PBS said an attempted federal takeover of state-run elections would face swift legal challenges. Max Flugrath of Fair Fight Action said there is no statute allowing a president to seize control of state-run elections through an emergency declaration.
Citizenship documentation remains a central policy dispute
Executive Order 14248 sought, according to PBS, to reshape federal election-integrity policy, including through proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal voter-registration forms.
Supporters of documentary citizenship requirements say verification is needed to guard against unlawful voting. Critics say the requirements can make registration more difficult for eligible voters who do not readily have documents such as passports or birth certificates.
Evidence of widespread noncitizen voting affecting national election outcomes has not been established, though the issue remains politically potent. PBS reported that the Republican-led House passed the SAVE Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration. Its prospects in the Senate were uncertain.
Voter ID rules show the practical limits of a single approach
Trump has said he wants voter ID in place before the 2026 midterms, writing on Truth Social that it would happen whether Congress approved it or not. But voter ID is not governed by one national standard.
Thirty-six states require some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as cited by PBS. The rules differ: some accept a broad range of documents, while others use stricter photo-ID requirements or permit voters without identification to cast provisional ballots.
Any nationwide approach would require a valid legal foundation, action by Congress or cooperation from election administrators, and a response to likely litigation. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, called the reported draft a threat to election administration and said states would resist attempts to take control of their systems.
The 2026 debate, then, is not limited to the unadopted draft. It also concerns the unresolved court challenges to the March 2025 order and the competing paths available through legislation, executive action and state election law.
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