Leaders Schumer, Jeffries, DGA, DSCC, DCCC, DNC File Lawsuit Challenging Trump’s Illegal Executive Order Attacking Vote By Mail

Leaders Schumer, Jeffries, DGA, DSCC, DCCC, DNC File Lawsuit Challenging Trump's Illegal Executive Order Attacking Vote By Mail

Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump's illegal executive order that attacks Americans' right to vote by mail.

Trump's latest executive order is the newest attempt by Republicans to interfere in free and fair elections. The order would unilaterally create a federal list of voters the Trump administration deems eligible to receive a mail-in ballot - a clear violation of the Constitution, which gives states and Congress the power to regulate federal elections and voter rolls, not the President.

This attack on vote-by-mail is an affront to Americans' constitutional rights, and disproportionately impacts working families, seniors, Americans with disabilities, and members of the military who rely on mail voting to make their voices heard in our elections.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DGA Chair Andy Beshear, DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene, and DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

"The American people are fed up with Republicans' price-spiking, health care-gutting agenda and are ready to vote them out. That's why Donald Trump is desperately trying to rig our elections by making it harder to vote for seniors, Americans with disabilities, members of the military, rural communities, and other working families who rely on vote-by-mail. This move is blatantly unconstitutional, and we will fight against it. We are taking action to challenge Trump's executive order to protect the right to vote and ensure every eligible American can make their voice heard at the ballot box."

To view the Democratic committees' full brief, click here.

Key Points:

• Since losing the 2020 election, Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to undermine vote-by-mail systems in an effort to change the rules for his own political benefit and help Republicans win. After failing to push this anti-voter agenda through Congress, Trump issued this executive order to accomplish the same goal: making it harder for eligible Americans to vote by mail and easier to disenfranchise lawful voters.

• Trump has no lawful authority to do this. The President's power to issue executive orders "must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself," and the Constitution gives Congress and the states - not the President - the authority to regulate federal elections.

• Trump's executive order unlawfully attempts to take vote-by-mail eligibility away from the states and hand it over to federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service.

• There is no basis in federal statute or the Constitution for the executive branch to decide which Americans are eligible to vote by mail.

• The executive order directs the creation of an unprecedented federal list of citizens deemed eligible to receive a mail ballot. Creating such a list would violate federal law that protects the privacy rights of voters and would inevitably disenfranchise eligible voters who are wrongly excluded.

• The data sources Trump's order relies on to determine eligibility are deeply flawed, unreliable, and not designed to serve as a national voter eligibility database due to inaccuracies, delays, and gaps. Additionally, any attempt to compile a national eligibility list would also create serious problems for eligible voters, including voters who move shortly before an election and naturalized citizens whose records may not be updated in time.

• Trump's claims of a crisis of non-citizen voting are a lie. There is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting, and states have long administered vote-by-mail systems safely, securely, and effectively.

###