AG Brown leads multistate opposition to Postal Service’s attempt to undermine voting rights

Attorney General Nick Brown co-led a multistate coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing a formal comment letter today opposing the Postal Service’s attempt to aid the President’s efforts to seize control of elections and restrict mail-in voting through a proposed rule, and asking the Postal Service to withdraw the proposed rule.

 

“The Constitution is clear: states control elections, not the President. This proposed rule is illegal and dangerous,” Brown said. “We will continue to protect the rights of eligible Washington voters to have their voices heard in our democracy.”

On March 31, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), an independent federal agency, to transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. 

In the order, the President threatened states and elections officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands.

A federal judge struck down that executive order last week in a lawsuit co-led by Brown’s office, with the order applying to 24 states total. 

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled in a separate case that the proposed rule violated a settlement between the USPS and the NAACP. 

Nevertheless, the USPS has so far not rescinded its proposed rule to implement Trump’s illegal executive order. 

Under the proposed rule, USPS would create a centralized list of voter information and would refuse to deliver ballots to any eligible voter who is not on that list, essentially giving the federal government control over elections conducted by mail.

State and federal law entitle all eligible voters to cast ballots and have their votes counted in state and federal elections. Voters of all parties, in all states, and of every background utilize mail-in voting—including the President himself. 

This week’s Supreme Court decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee reaffirmed states’ authority to administer their elections, like permitting voters to cast ballots by mail.

Washington’s safe and secure vote-by-mail system was originally championed with bipartisan support and is popular with voters because of how it improves access to democracy.

This is not the President’s first failed executive order attacking elections. Last year, Brown successfully co-led a lawsuit with Oregon challenging a previous attempt by President Trump to undermine mail voting. A federal judge in Seattle found that the President exceeded his authority and that his actions violated the separation of powers.

Attorney General Brown co-leads this formal comment letter with the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, and they are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.