Campaign Legal Center — along with Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) and on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative (SFI) and Arizona Students’ Association (ASA) — is challenging President Trump’s illegal executive order on voting by mail.
Back to topPresident Donald Trump is once again trying to control the electorate and change how our elections are run, even though only the states and Congress have power over our elections.
On March 31, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) purporting to impose new requirements for mail-in voting; create a national database of “verified”...
On March 31, 2026, President Trump issued his second executive order on elections. Like his March 2025 order, this is another illegal and unconstitutional attempt by the federal government to take control of our elections.
The Constitution gives the states and Congress the power to regulate our elections — not the president.
On behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative (SFI) and the Arizona Students’ Association (ASA), Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) filed a lawsuit to stop this unconstitutional executive overreach; defend the independence of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS); protect the freedom to vote; and safeguard the separation of powers and our system of checks and balances.
By attempting — without any legal authority — to create a national registry of federally verified citizens, exert unlawful control over USPS and dictate who can vote by mail and how they must do it, this executive order could prevent millions of Americans from exercising their essential freedom to vote and make their voices heard through our elections.
The president has no power to set election rules. Despite that, this executive order directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide a “state citizenship” list to each state 60 days before each federal election.
The executive order also directs USPS to issue new regulations specifying envelopes and barcodes that must be used for ballot mail, as well as to develop a list of approved absentee and mail voters that would require voters to “enroll” with USPS to receive a mail ballot. States “may” also send USPS a list of voters eligible to vote by mail.
It is unclear from the text of the order how these various lists will interact with one another or how exactly USPS and state and local election officials are supposed to use them. But the order threatens any official who sends a mail ballot to an ineligible voter with investigation and prosecution by the Department of Justice and the withholding of federal funding from states who do not comply.
Under the Constitution and federal law, the president has no power to do this, nor does the Department of Homeland Security have the authority to create a national voter registry.
The president also has no authority to order USPS to enact policy changes. Under the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to regulate the mail — and the president cannot force USPS to take action contrary to laws Congress has established.
The president’s unconstitutional effort to set election rules limiting access to vote by mail is another clear violation of the separation of powers, and if implemented, would prevent millions of eligible Americans from voting by mail. It also would subject election officials to prosecution by the federal government for sending ballots to eligible voters.
We are asking the court to declare President Trump’s executive order illegal and block the order from taking effect to stop this unconstitutional executive overreach into our elections.
