Judge allows Trump to implement mail-in voting executive order
by Luc Cohen
May 28 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday refused to block President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules on voting by mail; This resulted in a loss for the Democratic Party, whose lawyers argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters.
The decision comes as Trump’s Republicans are locked in a tight fight to retain control of both houses of the US Congress in the November midterm elections. For years, Trump has pushed the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud and criticized mail-in voting.
The executive order signed by Trump on March 31 directed his administration to compile a list of certified U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote.
It also required the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state’s certified mail ballot list and required states to keep election-related records for five years.
JUDGE SAYS DEMOCRATS’ CHALLENGE IS EARLY
In denying a request for a preliminary injunction from the plaintiffs, including New York Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Washington-based U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols wrote that Democrats had filed the lawsuit too early because the government had not yet prepared any defective citizenship lists and the Postal Service had not yet implemented any new rules.
“Given that the Executive Order does not order Plaintiffs to do anything, and no agency has yet acted pursuant to the Order in a manner that could harm Plaintiffs, they have not suffered any harm at this time,” wrote Nichols, who was appointed by Trump in his first term.
The judge said Democrats could seek a preliminary injunction again after federal agencies take steps to enforce the executive order.
HEARING NEXT WEEK IN THE PARALLEL CASE
Democrats argued that the decision violated individual states’ rights to hold elections under the U.S. Constitution.
The executives said the executive order’s directive that agencies use Department of Internal Affairs Security and Welfare Administration data to create “state citizenship lists” risks improperly excluding legally registered voters because the data sources may be outdated and contain errors.
The Ministry of Justice opposed the lawsuit, saying it was premature.
A coalition of Democratic states filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in Boston challenging the executive order. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, will hear arguments in the case on June 2.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot and David Holmes)
