Gallego, Colleagues Introduce Legislation, Push USPS to Uphold Federal Law Over President Trump’s Illegal Executive Order to Restrict Vote by Mail

WASHINGTON —
Today,
Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
joined colleagues in introducing the
Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act (Absentee MVP Act)
to block President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional executive order attacking mail and absentee ballots, and protect the right to vote by mail.
“I have voted in every election by mail since 2006. Voting by mail is safe, secure, and the first choice for 80% of Arizona voters,”
said Senator Gallego.
“Trump realizes that his policies are losing voters, and instead of actually trying to fix the issues they care about, he’s trying to fix the election. I’m proud to support this legislation to protect Arizonans’ right to participate in our democracy.”
The
Absentee MVP Act
would nullify Trump’s unlawful March 31 executive order (EO) that aims to illegally rewrite federal election rules or any similar order and prohibit the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and any other agency from spending funds to implement actions in the President’s unconstitutional executive order.
At its core, the EO would give the USPS sweeping new authority to decide which voters may cast ballots by mail by ordering the USPS to reject and refuse delivery of lawful ballots unless states comply with newly established federal eligibility lists. Those who do not comply with these restrictions would face serious consequences: election officials, mail carriers, and others who send or deliver ballots to voters the administration considers ineligible could face criminal charges, and states and local governments would forfeit federal funding. To lay the groundwork for this override of existing state and federal voting laws, the order also tasks DHS with building state-by-state rosters of voting-age American citizens — drawn from federal data sources widely considered to be incomplete and unreliable.
In addition to nullifying the EO, the legislation bars any similar EO and provides additional limits on the Trump Administration’s attempts to implement the actions in the EO, including by:
Blocking the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS from sharing state voter lists
Defunding the DOJ’s efforts to compel production of state voter lists
Enforcing the Privacy Act by barring federal agencies from improperly sharing voter data, both within the government and with outside groups
Defunding any future Commerce Department efforts to enact partisan regulation of mail-in ballots
Yesterday, Gallego joined 36 senators in sending a letter to the USPS Board of Governors and Postmaster General David Steiner demanding that USPS follow the law and not implement President Trump’s unlawful executive order.
“The Constitution provides no role for the President in regulating federal elections. And no statute delegates to the President any authority to regulate elections or voter eligibility either, including via USPS,”
the senators wrote.
“Like the President, the Postal Service has no authority to regulate the manner of voting in federal elections, nor who is eligible to vote by mail in such elections. For over 250 years, the Postal Service has bound our country together with a constitutionally recognized mail service, and for 250 years, the American people have democratically elected their leaders. Any attempt to effectuate this order would violate the Constitution, break these bonds, and threaten the foundations of American democracy.”
Read the full text of the
Absentee MVP Act
HERE
.
Read the full USPS letter
HERE
.