in effect
Executive Order 14399, signed March 31, 2026, directs federal agencies to build new systems for verifying that only U.S. citizens receive and cast ballots in federal elections. It also instructs the U.S. Postal Service to propose new rules governing how mail-in and absentee ballots are handled and tracked.
The Department of Homeland Security must compile a “State Citizenship List” — drawn from immigration, naturalization, Social Security, and DHS SAVE records — and send it to each state’s chief election official at least 60 days before every regularly scheduled federal election. The USPS must publish a proposed rule within 60 days (final rule within 120 days) requiring that all outgoing ballot mail use trackable Intelligent Mail barcodes and undergo a USPS envelope-design review; ballots may only be mailed through USPS on behalf of voters who appear on a state-submitted eligibility list. The Attorney General is directed to make investigating and prosecuting election officials or other parties who issue ballots to ineligible voters a priority. States and localities are required to keep ballot-related records (excluding the ballots themselves) for five years, and noncompliant jurisdictions may have federal funding withheld where law permits.
State and local election officials must receive and work with the new federal citizenship lists, submit voter eligibility lists to USPS before elections, and comply with new ballot-envelope standards or risk referral for federal prosecution or loss of federal funds. Individual voters who use mail-in or absentee ballots must be enrolled on a state list provided to USPS before their ballot can be mailed, and they have the right to access and correct their records in the federal citizenship database. The USPS, DHS, Social Security Administration, and Department of Justice all take on new administrative and enforcement duties under the order.