Executive Order 14248 explained · Executive Order · No disposition noted
Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections
Signed: 2025-03-25 Published: 2025-03-28 Federal Register document: 2025-05523
Agencies: Executive Office of the President
Federal Register notes (as of 2026-10-19): See: EO 14019, March 7, 2021; EO 14148, January 20, 2025
What Executive Order 14248 says
Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 59 (Friday, March 28, 2025) [Federal Register Volume 90, Number 59 (Friday, March 28, 2025)] [Presidential Documents] [Pages 14005-14010] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2025-05523] Presidential Documents Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 59 / Friday, March 28, 2025 / Presidential Documents [[Page 14005]] Executive Order 14248 of March 25, 2025 Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Despite pioneering self- government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing. India and Brazil, for example, are tying voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship. In tabulating votes, Germany and Canada require use of paper ballots, counted in public by local officials, which substantially reduces the number of disputes as compared to the American patchwork of voting methods that can lead to basic chain-of-custody problems. Further, while countries like Denmark and Sweden sensibly limit mail-in voting to those unable to vote in person...
Opening of the official text; read it in full in the Federal Register.
Constitution Index
“VFA Constitution grade”
Significant constitutional concerns
Graded 2026-10-08
SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology
SI review finds Executive Order 14248 largely enforces existing federal election statutes within presidential Take Care authority, but uses presidential direction to impose uniform federal registration, ballot-receipt, and list-maintenance standards that the Constitution reserves primarily to states subject to congressional regulation. No direct Bill of Rights violation, but federalism and voter-access implementation risks require congressional action and procedural safeguards.
-
✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
The President claims authority under Article II, Sections 1 and 3 to take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, enforcing statutes passed under Congress's Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 Elections Clause and Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 naturalization power: 2 U.S.C. 7 and 3 U.S.C. 1 uniform Election Day, 18 U.S.C. 611 and 1015 non-citizen voting prohibitions, 52 U.S.C. 20507-20508 NVRA, 52 … -
✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
No direct First, Second, Fourth, or Eighth Amendment violation. Documentary proof of citizenship for federal registration imposes a burden on voting, implicating the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments and the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment, but the Order frames it as enforcement of existing prohibitions on non-citizen voting under 18 U.S.C. 611 and… -
✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
The Order does not restrict speech, belief, labor, or property ownership. It conditions participation in federal elections on documentary proof of citizenship, which burdens the fundamental right to vote protected by Article I, Section 2 and the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments. The government asserts a compelling justification recognized by the Supreme Court: prevent… -
✗ Concern · Decentralization
Elections administration is presumptively decentralized under Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 and the Tenth Amendment: states prescribe Times, Places and Manner for federal elections, subject to congressional override. (1) Individuals cannot run uniform federal elections alone. (2) Localities cannot ensure interstate uniformity for federal offices. (3) States CAN handle registration, paper ballots,… -
✓ Passes · Due process and takings
No physical taking under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause and no criminal punishment without trial. Procedural due process under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause requires fair notice and opportunity to contest removal from voter rolls and denial of registration under 52 U.S.C. 20507 list-maintenance rules. The Order directs verification against federal immigration databases and review of s…
Report an error in this grade
What should happen instead
“VFA SI Solution”
No Solution yet
A sourced, Constitution-cited alternative appears here once one passes the SI Editorial Standard.
For journalists and bloggers
“Embed this grade”
Free to use with the link back. The badge and card update when the grade changes. Embed terms →
