North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe said North Dakota is already doing much of what is contained in President Trump's executive order concerning mail-in ballots.
"I don't think it's too off-base to say this executive order wasn't created with North Dakota in mind," said Howe.
Howe said a lot of what that order seeks to do, North Dakota is already doing. He said one example is the idea of putting “bar codes” on mail ballot envelopes.
"We already place bar codes on mail ballot envelopes in North Dakota," Howe said. "If you vote by mail, you can track your ballot — once it's being sent to you by the county, and once the county receives it. So we've got that mechanism in place in North Dakota."
As for having the US Postal Service approve the format of the mail ballot envelope, Howe says North Dakota already follows that process. He also says he doesn’t believe it will lead to voter registration in North Dakota, and because of that, the state is not bound by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
"If we were, we can only clean our voter rolls after two missed general elections," Howe said. "If there's a voter on your voter rolls that has passed away, states by federal law cannot remove that deceased person for two federal elections. You have heard the national conversation about dead people on the voter rolls. That is true, because they are bound by federal law to not remove them, unless they miss two federal elections. But we clean our voter rolls, a.k.a. our central voter file, every single night in the state of North Dakota."
And then there is the section of having valid proof of citizenship to vote. Howe said in North Dakota, there are three acceptable forms of ID: a driver license or non-driver ID issued by the Department of Transportation, a tribal ID or letter, and a long-term care certificate. Howe said a passport, on its own, is not.
"That's because there is no residential information in a passport," Howe said.
Howe said a number of states will likely take the order to court, because the 10th Amendment to the Constitution says states are in charge of their own elections.
