Jennings joins voting lawsuit
Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings has joined a federal lawsuit with attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia opposing an executive order that they say would interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections.
“Elections are the duty of the states because the founders had the foresight to anticipate a president who would try to be a king: one who would let his narcissism, dishonesty, and erratic whims come before his patriotism,” said Jennings in a press release.
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order March 31 to establish a national list of eligible voters and direct the U.S. Postal Service, an independent federal agency, to transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. The president threatens states and election officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands, officials said. The lawsuit group argues that the order would require states to act contrary to their own voter roll procedures, vote-by-mail systems and voter registration laws.
“We will always fight back against federal overreach, protect every voter’s right to cast a ballot, and defend the authority of states to run free and fair elections without interference," said Gov. Matt Meyer in a press release.
The U.S. Constitution gives states the primary authority to administer elections, Jennings said, and it does not allow the president to unilaterally impose changes to federal election procedures – least of all without an act of Congress.
Plaintiffs say state and federal laws entitle all eligible voters to cast ballots and to have their votes counted in state and federal elections, and registered voters can cast their ballots by mail if they meet their state’s requirements for doing so. Jennings said voters of all parties, in all states, and of every demographic utilize mail-in voting – including the president himself.
States say the administration of elections is highly complex and requires substantial planning and preparation, and the Executive Order would require states to dismantle their existing election administration procedures for upcoming elections. This would create a rush to conduct new statewide voter education within weeks of many states’ primary elections and mere months before the beginning of mail voting for the general election. The coalition argues that such drastic and sudden changes would create confusion, chaos and distrust in state election systems, all while threatening to disenfranchise eligible voters.
The coalition of plaintiff states alleges that the order violates the separation of powers and unlawfully interferes with states’ mail voting programs, and they ask the court to prevent the federal government from implementing or enforcing it.
In addition to Delaware, the coalition comprises the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, and the governor of Pennsylvania.
