Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Executive Order Threatens to Disenfranchise Eligible Voters and Violates States’ Authority to Administer Elections

** Download a broadcast quality video file of Attorney General Raoul’s remarks here.**

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 24 states, filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s unlawful executive order that attempts to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections by restricting voter eligibility and mail-in voting to lists of voters pre-authorized by the federal government. 

“President Trump’s unlawful executive order will disenfranchise voters and cause chaos in the administration of elections,” Raoul said. “States have authority to regulate the time, place and manner of federal elections. There is no statute that authorizes the executive branch to determine who is entitled to vote in federal elections. I’m filing this lawsuit to protect the fundamental right to vote for the people of Illinois and for all Americans.”

On March 31, President Trump signed 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 those on the list. In the order, the president threatens states and election officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands. 

In their lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Raoul and the coalition explain that the U.S. Constitution gives states the primary authority to administer elections. In contrast, the Constitution does not allow the president to unilaterally impose changes to federal election procedures, particularly without an act of Congress permitting him to do so. 

Raoul and the attorneys general argue that the order would require states to act contrary to their own voter roll procedures, vote-by-mail systems, and voter registration laws. State and federal law entitle all eligible voters to cast ballots and have their votes counted in state and federal elections. The states filing this lawsuit permit registered voters to cast their ballots by mail if they meet their state’s requirements for doing so. Voters of all parties, in all states, and of every demographic utilize mail-in voting, including the president himself. 

The administration of elections is highly complex and requires substantial planning and preparation. The attorneys general argue that the executive order would require states to upend their existing election administration procedures for upcoming elections and conduct statewide voter education at a dangerously quick pace mere months before the beginning of mail voting for the 2026 general election. The coalition argues that such drastic and rapid changes would disenfranchise eligible voters and create confusion and distrust in state election systems.

The attorneys general allege that the executive order violates the separation of powers and unlawfully interferes with states’ mail voting programs. Raoul and the coalition ask the court to prevent the federal government from implementing or enforcing the executive order. 

Joining Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania.