Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight over elections, Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) led 11 Senators in sounding the alarm on the devastating impacts of President Trump’s anti-voter “election integrity” executive order and the SAVE Act on Native American voting rights. In a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, the Senators specifically warn about the challenges Native communities will face with the proposed requirements of documentary proof of citizenship and restrictions on mail-in voting.

“Enactment of new voter registration policies under the Executive Order and the SAVE Act would lead to mass disenfranchisement of eligible Native voters and further depress the Native vote,” wrote the Senators. “Tribal IDs generally lack place of birth information required by the legislation, and the vast majority of these IDs lack the specific U.S. citizenship documentation required by the Executive Order. And the SAVE Act’s in-person requirement would exacerbate existing barriers, such as requiring IDs that list residential mailing addresses, by forcing many Native voters to travel great distances, including costly flights or multi-hour drives, to reach their local elections office or polling place.”

“As Secretary of the Interior, you have a special moral and legal responsibility to uphold our nation’s trust and treaty obligations,” continued the Senators. “If implemented, the sweeping federal mandates included in the Executive Order and the SAVE Act would disenfranchise eligible Native voters who are following state laws. We encourage your active engagement with the White House and the Department of Justice to ensure that Native communities are able to exercise the franchise fully and have their voices heard at the ballot box.”

Tribal IDs are currently an acceptable form of documentation to register to vote in nearly every state, but the SAVE Act and Trump executive order require that an ID must show place of birth and citizenship, which the majority of Tribal IDs lack, adding another barrier to the ballot box for many Native American communities. The Senators underscored that if enacted, these provisions would force Tribal voters who live in rural and remote locations to travel significant distances to prove their citizenship in order to register to vote.

The Senators also emphasized the disproportionate impact the vote-by-mail restrictions would have on Native communities, which often rely more on mail-in voting because of a lack of infrastructure and transportation access. Trump’s executive order penalizes states that accept absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day, harming Native voters in states like Alaska, North Dakota, Oregon, and California that process ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. In Alaska specifically, which has 229 federally recognized Tribes, vote-by-mail is essential because polling sites can be hundreds of miles away for villages that are not on the road system.

Only 66 percent of Native Americans eligible to participate in elections are currently registered to vote, leaving more than 1 million eligible voting-age Native Americans unregistered. Creating further obstacles to register to vote would likely reduce these numbers even further.

In addition to Senators Padilla, Schatz, and Wyden, the letter was also signed by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Senator Padilla has led the charge opposing President Trump and Republicans’ reckless attempts to restrict the right to vote. As President Trump marked 100 disastrous days in office, he recently led his Democratic colleagues on the Senate floor to speak out against the SAVE Act and attacks on election integrity. Last month, Padilla warned Secretaries of State, Lieutenant Governors, and Chief Election Officials across the country of the devastating potential impacts of Republicans’ SAVE Act, concerns that have been echoed by top election officials across the country. He also led 11 Senators in introducing the Defending America’s Future Elections Act to repeal Trump’s illegal anti-voter executive order and prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive voter registration data and state records. Padilla previously led 14 Democratic Senators in calling on Trump to revoke his illegal anti-voter executive order and issued a statement slamming the order when it was announced.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Secretary Burgum:

We write to express our serious concern over the impact of the Administration’s March 25 Executive Order 14284 “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” on Native communities. As former Governor of North Dakota, and now as Secretary of the Interior, you must appreciate that Indian Country faces voting challenges unique to the rest of the country, including remote locations, limited resources, and a legacy of legal discrimination. Unfortunately, both this Executive Order, and the related Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 22) recently passed by the House of Representatives, would represent the largest steps backwards for Native American voting rights in many decades. We urge you to ensure that the federal government meets its trust responsibility to safeguard Native American voting rights and to engage in Tribal consultation on any new policies that impact the Native vote.

Enactment of new voter registration policies under the Executive Order and the SAVE Act would lead to mass disenfranchisement of eligible Native voters and further depress the Native vote. For example, both the Executive Order and the SAVE Act include a requirement for voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering or re-registering to vote. Tribal IDs generally lack place of birth information required by the legislation, and the vast majority of these IDs lack the specific U.S. citizenship documentation required by the Executive Order. And the SAVE Act’s in-person requirement would exacerbate existing barriers, such as requiring IDs that list residential mailing addresses, by forcing many Native voters to travel great distances, including costly flights or multi-hour drives, to reach their local elections office or polling place.

What’s more, under the Executive Order, the Attorney General is directed to take action against states with laws that accept absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day. This directive will have a disproportionate impact on Native communities, given the remote locations of many Native communities, along with a general lack of infrastructure and transportation access. As a result, Native voters often must rely on vote-by-mail systems to cast their ballots, but extremely long distances and unpredictable weather can result in mail delays that impact the arrival times of ballots. For example, in states like Alaska, which is home to 229 federally recognized Tribes, voters must rely on mail-in ballots due to the lack of local polling sites in Native villages, the majority of which are not on the road system; in fact, the nearest polling site might be hundreds of miles away by plane or boat. So, it is standard practice for many states to allow ballots to be counted for several days following the federal election as long as they were postmarked before or on election day. Of note, no state allows hand-delivered ballots to be returned after Election Day. If the Executive Order’s provision were enforced, it risks further disenfranchisement of Native voters in states like Alaska, North Dakota, Oregon, and California that accept absentee or mail-in ballots postmarked by the day before Election Day.

As Secretary of the Interior, you have a special moral and legal responsibility to uphold our nation’s trust and treaty obligations. If implemented, the sweeping federal mandates included in the Executive Order and the SAVE Act would disenfranchise eligible Native voters who are following state laws. We encourage your active engagement with the White House and the Department of Justice to ensure that Native communities are able to exercise the franchise fully and have their voices heard at the ballot box.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and we welcome the opportunity to further discuss these concerns with you.

Sincerely,

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