Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and one governor in suing President Trump on April 3, challenging his executive order that restricts voter eligibility and mail voting to lists of voters pre-authorized by the federal government.
The order, signed March 31, requires stronger citizenship verification for voters, establishing a compiled list of “confirmed U.S. citizens who will be 18 or older at the time of the next upcoming Federal election and reside in that State,” for each state.
“The cheating on mail-in ballots is legendary. It’s horrible what’s going on,” said President Trump in a press conference.
However, according to Brookings, a nonpartisan and nonprofit research organization, there is “an average total mail voting fraud percentage across the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 general elections of only 0.000043%, or about four cases of mail voting fraud out of every 10 million mail votes.”
Additionally, the order requires that all mail-in and absentee ballots transmitted by the United States Postal Service are “placed in secure ballot envelopes marked as Official Election Mail with unique Intelligent Mail barcodes that facilitate tracking,” by the postmaster general.
If a state or locality refuses to comply with the order, the U.S. attorney general has been granted explicit permission to withhold federal funds.
The intended purpose of the executive order is to end voter fraud by mail-in and absentee ballot and ensure that only those who are eligible to vote are voting in federal and state elections. However, the order has caused an upset in many states due to the short timeframe given to rearrange state voting systems and other potential consequences.
According to a press release from Tong, the coalition is arguing that “that the U.S. Constitution gives states the primary authority to administer elections” and “the Constitution does not allow the President to unilaterally impose changes to federal election procedures.”
Additionally, the attorneys general argue that “the President’s Executive Order would require states to upend their existing election administration procedures for upcoming elections” which is dangerous given the short timeframe. They said that “such drastic and rapid changes will undoubtedly create confusion, chaos, and distrust in state election systems, all while threatening to disenfranchise eligible voters.”
“The Constitution plainly forbids the President from commandeering elections to manipulate and micromanage how we vote. This executive order is an illegal attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters and fundamentally alter how Americans vote. We are coordinating closely with states across the country and we are suing to protect our democracy,” said Tong.