President Donald Trump said Friday he will issue an executive order “soon” clarifying the “legal basis” for a nationwide voter identification requirement.
President Trump said in a post on Truth Social late Friday that he wants to implement voter ID laws for the 2026 midterm elections, even though legislation to mandate voter ID laws is expected to stall in Congress.
“Democrats are denying voter ID, voting citizenship. The reason is very simple: They want to continue to steal elections,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“This was not what our founders wanted. I have delved deep into the legal arguments that have yet to be articulated and unexamined on this matter, and I intend to present an irrefutable argument in the very near future: Voter ID will exist in midterm elections, whether it is approved by Congress or not!” he continued.
In a second post published minutes after his first, Trump said, “There are legal reasons why this fraud should not be allowed if it cannot pass Congress. I will present them in the form of an executive order shortly.”
Under pressure from Mr. Trump, his allies in the House and Senate, and conservative online influencers, the issue of voter ID has dominated social media in recent days and reverberated on the floor of Congress. Trump’s comments have raised concerns among Democrats and voting rights groups that the president will try to interfere in this year’s crucial midterm elections, as Republicans seek to maintain slim majorities in both chambers of Congress.
President Donald Trump speaks with members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, February 13, 2026.
Samuel Corum | Sipa | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a Trump-backed election bill called the Save America Act that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote. All but one Democratic lawmaker voted against the proposal, which critics say could disenfranchise millions of people and make it harder to register for people, including women whose married names are not listed on their birth certificates.
It now moves to the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome the filibuster. Republicans hold only 53 seats, and one of them, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), opposes the proposal. For the bill to become law, a minority of Democrats would need to support it. The only Senate Democrat who supports a nationwide voter ID requirement is Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, who told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week that he does not support other voting restrictions, such as limits on mail-in voting.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York vowed that Democrats would block the bill, calling it “dysfunctional on arrival.”
“The SAVE Act is by no means a mainstream bill,” Schumer said on the Senate floor this week. “It’s a fringe bill that’s now in control of the Republican Party under the guise of election security, when in reality it’s intended to interfere in midterm elections and make it harder for people to vote.”
President Trump recently said he wants to nationalize federal elections and revive election conspiracies and launched an FBI investigation into election results in Fulton County, Georgia, where the president has repeatedly claimed without evidence that he won in 2020.
States are given the power under the Constitution to control most aspects of U.S. elections.
In his second post on Friday, Trump cast the midterm elections in existential terms.
“If they were to take power, they would not only add two states to our 50-person roster and all the baggage they need to add to it, but they would also pack the Court with their dream of a total of 21 Supreme Court Justices. They would file easily and quickly, perhaps in the first week or sooner, in taking immediate action to end the filibuster,” Trump wrote.
“If we allow these crazy, evil people to knowingly and willingly destroy this country, our country will never be the same. Thank you for your interest in this issue. Save America!” he continued.
