Democratic-led states sue to block Trump’s mail-ballot executive order

Democratic-led states have now moved from warning to filing suit over President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting mail-in and absentee ballots.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said Friday that she co-led a coalition of 24 states in a federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. New York Attorney General Letitia James separately said a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania were filing a lawsuit to block the order.

The White House order, signed March 31, directs federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service to tighten mail-ballot procedures and create a federal citizenship list. Democratic officials argue that the president does not have authority to rewrite state election rules or force changes to voting systems through executive action.

Campbell’s office said the order would require states to upend existing election procedures on a rushed timetable before upcoming elections. The filing makes the legal fight more immediate after earlier threats of litigation and a separate lawsuit from voting-rights groups.

The latest developments do not fully clarify whether the Massachusetts and New York announcements describe the same filing or coordinated separate suits, but both describe a broad state-level challenge aimed at stopping the directive.