Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to meet with federal officials about improving state access to citizenship and death records for maintaining voter registration lists.
Evnen joined other secretaries of state for a meeting hosted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the White House, aimed at implementing President Trump’s March executive order (EO) on elections. Evnen’s office says the meeting focused on granting states access to federal databases to help verify voter eligibility.
“It is remarkable what has been accomplished by the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS to make these systems available to states,” Evnen said. “I assure Nebraska voters that these databases will further improve the efficiency of our election processes, and that we will use them prudently, ensuring that no lawfully registered voters are disenfranchised.”
President Trump’s EO—titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”—aimed to implement significant changes to federal election administration.
The key provisions of Trump’s EO include:
- Directing the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to modify the national mail voter registration form to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, despite evidence of non-citizens voting being extremely rare.
- Requiring all absentee/mail ballots be received by Election Day, effectively eliminating the counting of ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received afterward.
- Directing the EAC to amend the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) to prohibit voting systems using bar codes or QR codes in the vote-counting process and mandate voter-verified paper records.
- Tightening restrictions against foreign interference in elections and mandating a review of election-related executive actions.
- Granting the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) access to state voter files and list maintenance records.
- Stipulating that federal election-related funds could be withheld from states not complying with the order’s requirements
The legality of this EO is being challenged in court.
Officials also discussed the potential use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, which could help states identify voters who pass away outside Nebraska. Currently, Nebraska relies on state vital records and obituaries to update its rolls.
Evnen said he was optimistic the federal tools would be ready for use by state election officials in the near future.