Voting Rights Groups Challenge Executive Order on Mail-In Ballots as Illegal Interference in Elections

 Voting Rights Groups Challenge Executive Order on Mail-In Ballots as Illegal Interference in Elections 

President Trump’s unlawful executive order would take control of mail-in ballots from the states and create an unvalidated, error-prone system that would risk disenfranchising eligible voters

The president does not have constitutional authority to regulate elections. President Trump’s prior executive order on voting failed in court for the same reason.

Boston, MA – A coalition of voting rights organizations filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging President Trump's March 31 executive order concerning mail-in voting. The Constitution explicitly states that only Congress and the states can set the rules for elections. Nevertheless, the order attempts to displace states’ mail-in voting laws by transforming the U.S. Postal Service from a neutral mail carrier to an arbiter of who may cast a ballot by mail.

The order also requires the Department of Homeland Security to build and give to each state a list of citizens eligible to vote. Given that federal databases are out-of-date and unreliable, this risks mass disenfranchisement of eligible voters. 

The suit was filed by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters, Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), U.S. Vote Foundation, OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA), and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Massachusetts, Brennan Center for Justice, Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), and LatinoJustice PRLDEF.

The plaintiffs and their counsel released the following statement:

"This executive order is an illegal and dangerous attempt by the Trump administration to eliminate accessible voting options and subvert our democracy by seizing control of election administration from the states and Congress. If implemented, it would disenfranchise eligible voters across the nation.

“Attempts to end voting by mail are part of the Trump administration’s larger strategy to undermine elections and subvert the will of the people. The U.S. Constitution is clear: the states and Congress — not the president — set the rules for our elections. President Trump tried to make an end-run around the Constitution with another executive order last year and was promptly rebuffed by multiple courts. History will repeat itself.

“This executive order would upend countless state laws and procedures regarding mail-in voting. It could deny eligible voters, including voters with disabilities, U.S. citizens living abroad, and military members and their family members, the right to vote by mail — and unknown numbers will be disenfranchised without that option. Far from improving elections, this executive order would create chaos for election officials, erode public confidence in our elections, and block Americans from exercising their most fundamental right and responsibility as citizens — voting. By taking the administration to court, we are standing up for the rule of law and the promise of our democracy.”