(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to bolster the enforcement of federal election law against practices the president believes impede “free, fair, and honest elections.”

The order says the United States is “[failing] to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that other countries employ. In addition to calling for the removal of migrants from voter rolls, the order requires the Election Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship in its national mail voter registration form. Qualifying documentation includes a U.S. passport, a REAL ID-compliant form of identification, an official military identification card, or a federal or state government-issued photo ID that indicates the applicant is a U.S. citizen, according to the order.

“We believe this executive order is the farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections,” said White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf.

It also seeks to require that any and all ballots counted toward the outcome of an election be received by election officials by election day.

“We gotta straighten out our election. This country is so sick because of the election – the fake elections and the bad elections – and we’re gonna straighten it out one way or the other,” the president said.

Experts expect Trump's order to face legal challenges because states have broad election authority.

There has already been backlash from civil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Docket against the executive order the former called “anti-voter.”

“This directive represents a significant overreach of executive power and poses a direct threat to the fundamental right to vote,” the ACLU wrote in a response to the order. The organization claimed the order aims to “upend U.S. elections” and “disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.”

“We will do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional attack on the right to vote to ensure that every eligible American can participate in our democracy. We will see President Trump in court,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.

The president said the order would “go a long way toward ending” election fraud, but he also said the administration isn’t stopping there.

“There are other steps that we will be taking in the coming weeks, and we think we’ll be able to end up getting fair elections,” he said.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his state won't be following Trump's order.

"We will not blindly follow illegal orders because Donald Trump wrote them down on a piece of paper. Illinois follows the laws of the land – not the decrees of an aspiring king hell bent on disenfranchising millions of voters who deserve to have their voice heard," the governor said. "In the face of these attacks on voting rights, Illinois will continue to administer free and fair elections while standing up for strong, secure, and accessible democracy."