Lawsuit asserts that voting restrictions mandated by Executive Order are unlawful and undermine the right to vote

TRENTON — New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the federal Election Assistance Commission, and other Trump Administration officials over Executive Order No. 14248 (the Elections Executive Order), which imposes sweeping voting restrictions across the country.

Among other things, the Elections Executive Order unlawfully attempts to conscript State election officials in the President’s campaign to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements when Americans seek to register to vote. It also seeks to upend common-sense, well-established State procedures for counting ballots — procedures that ensure that all eligible voters’ voices are heard.

“This unconstitutional executive order is the most egregious attack on voting rights by a President in our recent history,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and we must do everything in our power to safeguard it.  This illegal order just does the opposite.  The executive order undermines states’ rights to set the laws that govern our elections and is a blatant attack on the constitutional rights of New Jerseyans.  Make no mistake:  We will fight this unlawful  attempt to deny voters their most sacred right.”

The President has no constitutional power to rewrite State election laws by decree, nor does the President have the authority to modify the rules Congress has created for elections. The coalition’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, explains that the power to regulate elections is reserved to the States and Congress, and that the Elections Executive Order violates the Constitution and federal statutes. The attorneys general ask the court to block the challenged provisions of the Elections Executive Order and declare them unconstitutional and void.

The lawsuit filed today includes claims challenging the following provisions of the Elections Executive Order:

• Forcing the Election Assistance Commission (the Commission) to require documentary proof of citizenship on the Federal mail registration form (the Federal Form). The Commission is an independent, bipartisan, four-member body established by Congress. It is responsible for developing the Federal Form, in consultation with the chief election officers of the States, for the registration of voters for elections for Federal office. In their lawsuit, the attorneys general underscore that Congress has never required documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote using the Federal Form.
• Forcing States to alter their ballot counting laws to exclude “absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day.” Consistent with federal law, members of the multistate coalition have exercised their constitutional and statutory authority to determine how to best receive and count votes that are timely cast by mail in federal elections. Many of the Plaintiff States, including New Jersey, provide for the counting of timely absentee and mail ballots received after Election Day.
• Requiring military and overseas voters to submit documentary proof of citizenship and eligibility to vote in state elections. The Federal Post Card Application form is used by voters in the military or living abroad to register to vote in federal elections. Federal law unequivocally grants them the ability to register and cast a ballot “in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States,” and there is no requirement that this form demand documentary proof of citizenship or proof of current eligibility to vote in a particular state.
• Threatening to withhold various streams of federal funding to the States for purported noncompliance with the challenged provisions. In so doing, the Elections Executive Order seeks to control Plaintiff States’ exercise of their sovereign powers in violation of the law.

In filing today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Platkin joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin

A copy of the complaint can be found here.

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