Press Release  AG Campbell Files Lawsuit Against Trump Administration's Unlawful Attempt To Restrict Voting Access

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, including U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the federal Election Assistance Commission and other officials, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts over the Administration’s unconstitutional and antidemocratic attempt to disenfranchise voters by imposing sweeping election restrictions across the country. 

The lawsuit challenges President Trump’s Executive Order No. 14248 (the Elections Executive Order), that, among other things, tries to impose extraordinarily burdensome proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, in a manner that would disenfranchise countless eligible Massachusetts voters. The Order also seeks to upend state laws that establish common-sense, well-established, and constitutionally sound procedures for counting ballots — procedures that make it easier for people to make their voices heard at the ballot box.  

The coalition’s lawsuit alleges that the President has no authority to rewrite state or federal election laws by Executive Order, nor does the President have the authority to overrule Congress’s authority to regulate federal elections. Because the power to regulate elections is reserved to the states and to Congress, the Executive Order exceeds the President’s authority and violates the separation of powers. The attorneys general ask the court to block the challenged provisions of the Executive Order and declare them unconstitutional and void. 

“Elections should be free, fair and accessible, as Secretary Galvin and local officials ensure here in Massachusetts. The Trump Administration’s attempt to disqualify eligible voters and throw out lawfully cast ballots is plainly unconstitutional,” said AG Campbell. “We will not stand by while the President tries to impose unlawful barriers to the ballot box.” 

“I wholeheartedly support Attorney General Campbell’s challenge to this unconstitutional attempt by the President to seize control of American elections. With this Executive Order, President Trump is seeking to disrupt our enormously successful Vote by Mail program, disenfranchise our citizens, and place incredible burdens on active duty service members who wish to cast a ballot while serving their country," said Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. 

In their lawsuit, the attorneys general assert that provisions of the Executive Order will cause imminent and irreparable harm to the states. The challenged provisions include: 

• Forcing the independent Election Assistance Commission (the Commission) to impose hurdles to voter registration. The Commission is an independent, bipartisan, four-member body established by Congress. It is responsible for implementing parts of the National Voter Registration Act, including designing a Federal Form, in consultation with states’ chief election officers, for the registration of voters for federal elections. The Executive Order unconstitutionally seeks to override the fact that Congress does not require and does not allow the Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote using the Federal Form.  
• Prohibiting states from counting lawfully cast “absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day.” Consistent with federal law, states have exercised their constitutional and statutory authority to determine how to best receive and count votes that are timely cast by mail in federal elections. Many of the plaintiff states provide for the counting of timely cast absentee and mail ballots received after Election Day. 
• Withholding federal funding to states that the Administration claims do not comply with the challenged provisions. In so doing, the Executive Order seeks to control plaintiff states’ exercise of their sovereign powers through raw executive domination, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and principles of federalism and the separation of powers.  
• Requiring military and overseas voters to submit documentary proof of citizenship and eligibility to vote in state elections. The Federal Post Card Application form is used by voters in the military or living abroad to register to vote in federal elections. Federal law unequivocally grants them the ability to register and cast a ballot “in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States” — there is no requirement that this form demand documentary proof of citizenship or proof of current eligibility to vote in a particular state. 

In filing today’s lawsuit, AG Campbell joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The litigation was led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. 

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