Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined 24 attorneys general and governors in suing the Trump administration over a March 31 executive order they say unlawfully interferes with states’ authority to run elections and threatens access to mail-in voting.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the lawsuit challenges an order signed by President Donald Trump that seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters and requires states to submit lists of voters slated to receive absentee ballots.
Under the order, the U.S. Postal Service would be directed not to transmit ballots to voters not on that list. The order also calls for the USPS to develop voter-specific barcodes to track ballots, and gives the agency four months — just before Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — to formalize rules, raising concerns the system could be in place before the November general election.
“Mail-in ballots are a safe and secure voting option that over 2.2 million Michiganders availed themselves to in the 2024 election,” Nessel said in a news release, adding she would defend voters’ access to absentee ballots approved by Michigan voters in 2018.
States could lose federal funding for failing to comply with the executive order and state officials could be prosecuted for providing ballots to people the federal government says are ineligible to vote.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called the order an unconstitutional federal overreach, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said it would create “fear, confusion and doubt” and could block eligible voters from casting ballots.
“Any attempt to federalize our elections or make it harder for Americans to cast their ballots is an attempt to take away Michiganders’ constitutional right to vote,” Whitmer said in the release. “I won’t let that happen.”
Michigan is joined in the lawsuit by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania’s governor.
The coalition argues the Constitution gives states — not the president — authority over elections and is asking the court to block the order from being enforced.
Free Press staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report.
Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter. Email her: nrahal@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan AG Nessel joins lawsuit challenging Trump’s vote-by-mail order
Reporting by Nour Rahal, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
