Overview
- On Thursday, a Washington federal judge denied Democrats’ request for a preliminary injunction against President Trump’s March 31 executive order because plaintiffs currently lack Article III standing.
- The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile state-by-state lists of U.S. citizens using DHS and Social Security Administration data and instructs the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on state-approved lists.
- The court emphasized that no state citizenship lists have been produced and the Postal Service has not issued any new rules, and it said plaintiffs may renew claims if federal agencies move to implement the order.
- Voting rights groups and Democrats warned that using administrative data could be outdated or contain errors that wrongly exclude lawful voters, while the Justice Department argued the lawsuits were premature until agencies act.
- A separate coalition of Democratic states has a pending challenge in Boston before Judge Indira Talwani with arguments scheduled for early June, keeping the legal dispute and its potential effects on midterm voting unresolved.