23 states sue Trump over executive order seizing mail ballot control

President Trump signed . The order took . The order directs DHS and SSA to compile a federal "State Citizenship List" for each state. USPS must then send mail ballots only to voters on that federal list. Any voter who applies for a mail ballot through state procedures but doesn't appear on the DHS database receives no ballot from USPS—even if their state voter rolls show them as eligible. This inverts the legal framework. USPS must verify every mail voter against a federal database they don't control.

The Postmaster General must issue a proposed rule within and a final rule within 120 days. That timeline runs through mid-July 2026, overlapping with primary elections in several states. The order requires USPS to design ballot envelopes that pass federal design review before states can print and distribute them. . All ballots must carry Intelligent Mail barcodes for federal tracking. States that print millions of ballot envelopes for November—🏔️Colorado, 🌲Oregon, 🌲Washington, 🎰Nevada, 🌵Arizona—would need months to re-procure compliant envelopes.

. , with 🏛️Massachusetts, 🎰Nevada, and 🌲Washington as co-leads. 🔔Pennsylvania Governor JSJosh Shapiro joined as a plaintiff. Other states included 🌵Arizona, 🏔️Colorado, 🦞Connecticut, 🐔Delaware, 🌽Illinois, 🦞Maine, 🦀Maryland, 🚗Michigan, 🦆Minnesota, 🏖️New Jersey, 🌶️New Mexico, 🗽New York, 🌲North Carolina, 🌲Oregon, ⚓Rhode Island, 🍁Vermont, 🏛️Virginia, and 🧀Wisconsin. . Additional states continued to announce their participation in the days that followed.

. The text says Congress can override state rules, but only "by Law"—meaning legislation, not executive orders. . The president cannot use executive power to perform functions the Constitution assigns to Congress. , overriding state election rules through executive action alone.

DHS and SSA records contain systematic gaps that could affect eligibility. Naturalized citizens face the highest risk: Social Security records often don't reflect naturalization that occurred decades after the original enrollment. A person who became a citizen in 1995 may still appear in SSA records as not yet naturalized. Elderly voters and rural residents with incomplete federal records also face exclusion. The federal database lacks the continuous update mechanisms that state voter rolls maintain throughout election seasons. , and all of them could be affected if the order took effect.

This was Trump's second major executive order on elections in 15 months. . . Judge Casper wrote that "the Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections." The pattern of legal defeats on the same constitutional theory put the administration on notice.

Some states conduct all-mail elections. . 🌲Washington, 🏔️Colorado, 🌺Hawaii, and 🏜️Utah all conduct predominantly or entirely mail-based elections. In Colorado, . The order would require Colorado to restructure its entire ballot delivery system in four months—directly overlapping November primary preparation. , including military families, rural Arizonans, and tribal members.

. Election law attorneys said the administration's statutory theory inverted what the law actually requires. 🌴California AG Bonta's .

Within 48 hours, . The multistate coalition sued in 🏛️Massachusetts on April 3. . . 🗽New York AG LJLetitia James and 🏔️Colorado AG PWPhil Weiser filed additional challenges. The rapid response signaled that election law experts across ideological lines viewed the order as legally vulnerable.

The order was signed approximately seven months before the . Every state would need to implement the federal list requirement before November or face penalties. . 🏔️Colorado announced it was joining the coalition that same day.