The order criticizes the current state of election security for lacking “basic and necessary” safeguards and urges collaboration between states and federal agencies to exchange voter information and prosecute electoral fraud. It also warns that states failing to adhere to these stipulations may face the withdrawal of federal funds.

This executive action, which may quickly encounter opposition due to states having significant autonomy in determining their own election procedures, aligns with Trump’s ongoing criticism of election protocols. The order instructs federal bodies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and the State Department to share federal data with election authorities to help identify any non-citizens on voter lists.

It also says the attorney general should “prioritise enforcement of federal election integrity laws” in states that don’t share information about suspected election crimes with the federal government.

Trump’s order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states. While Congress has the power to regulate voting – and has done so to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act – the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the “times, places and manner” for elections.

Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state, Jena Griswold, called the order an “unlawful” weaponisation of the federal government and said Trump is “trying to make it harder for voters to fight back at the ballot box.”

Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who has been the subject of Trump’s ire, responded to the order in a social media post, saying, “This will not stand. We will sue.”

The executive branch does have some authority over elections, said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law expert and former White House senior policy adviser during the Biden administration.

He said some federal agencies provide election support, including the US Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grant money to states and runs a voluntary certification program for voting systems. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency helps election officials protect their systems.

Former President Biden issued an executive order in 2021 directing federal agencies to take steps to boost voter registration, which drew complaints from Republicans who called it federal overreach. Trump has rescinded that order.

Trump’s order calls on the Election Assistance Commission to redraw its guidelines for voting systems, including to prioritise those that give voters a paper record of the ballot they cast. It said the commission should condition the funding it distributes to states on those new guidelines, which could affect states like Georgia, which use a barcode-based vote tallying system.

Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger nonetheless reacted positively to Trump’s order, calling it a “great first step for election integrity reform nationwide.”

“Thank you, President Trump, for this executive order ensuring that only American citizens decide American elections,” Raffensperger said.

Representative Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House committee that oversees elections, said the order is a “welcome action to secure our elections and prevent foreign influence.”

Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who spreads election conspiracies and who wants to ban voting systems in favour of hand-counting ballots, fundraised off the news on Tuesday, saying in an email it will fix our “sick elections.”

Trump’s executive order comes as the Republican National Committee launched a massive effort to probe voter registration list maintenance nationwide. The committee sent public records requests this week asking for documents related to voter roll list maintenance in 48 states and Washington, DC, asserting that the public should know how states are removing ineligible people from voter rolls, including dead people and non-citizens.

Trump referenced election fraud as he signed the order Tuesday, saying, “this will end it, hopefully.” He added that more election actions would be taken in coming weeks.