Attorney General Rayfield Moves to Block Trump’s Meddling in Oregon Elections

This morning, Attorney General Dan Rayfield took action in federal court to block President Trump's unlawful executive order interfering with vote-by-mail election s. Since taking office for a second term, Trump has attempted to unconstitutionally meddle with state elections, this time using the United States Postal Service as a tool to decide who gets a ballot-and who doesn't.

"The Constitution is clear: no President has the authority to take over or interfere with any state's elections," said Attorney General Rayfield. "We're not going to let Donald Trump dictate who gets to vote, and we're not going to let him put the Postal Service between Oregon voters and their ballots."

Today's lawsuit argues that USPS's rule violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections, and upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures. The lawsuit also argues the rule is inconsistent with USPS's governing statutes, ignores USPS's procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and is inconsistent with federal voting rights law.
The lawsuit ask the court to strike down the unlawful rule and issue a temporary restraining order preventing the rule from taking effect while the litigation proceeds.

Oregon pioneered vote-by-mail more than two decades ago, becoming the first state in the nation to conduct fully vote-by-mail elections. That system has since become a model for the rest of the country and prized by Oregonians across the political spectrum for making voting more secure, more accessible, and more convenient - consistently helping drive one of the highest voter turnout rates in the nation.

"Oregonians have trusted vote-by-mail for more than 25 years because it works. It's secure, it's convenient, and it lets every eligible voter make their voice heard," added Attorney General Rayfield. "This fall, Oregon voters will once again use an election system they know and can be proud of."

Background

On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots only to voters on his list. On August 21, USPS announced a new rule implementing the President's demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists.

The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes, which would need to be approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-generated lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that fail to comply with the rule's new standards.

AG Rayfield, along with a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit arguing that the rule inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. (On August 24, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the states filed their challenge too early; today's action is in direct response to that ruling.)

With the start of the general election season mere weeks away, states must bear the cost of redesigning their mail ballot envelopes and securing USPS approval before they can even register mail voters with USPS. Within a matter of weeks and without any additional resources, state election officials would also need to develop new systems to communicate mail voter lists to USPS to ensure that every eligible voter who is entitled to a mail ballot receives one. States must also create new guidance for election officials, train them on the new procedures, and educate the public about the changes prior to the upcoming election.

Even if states were to meet these enormous administrative and financial burdens, the rule could still result in eligible voters not receiving their ballots due to administrative errors or flaws in the rushed and untested new USPS procedures.

Alongside AG Rayfield in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.