Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and coalition of AGs challenging President Trump’s EO requiring voters to present documentation of citizenship

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general challenging President Trump’s executive order requiring voters to present documentation of citizenship. The attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month, asserting that only Congress can modify election rules and the power to regulate elections rests with states and Congress.  

As the AGs office stated that, “The executive order attempts to conscript state election officials into the president’s campaign to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements when Americans register to vote. It also seeks to upend commonsense, well-established state procedures for counting ballots – procedures that make it easier for Americans’ voices to be heard.”

Kwame Raoul noted:

“I am urging the court to block this executive order because the authority to modify the rules established for U.S. elections lies with Congress. Instead of imposing voting restrictions, we should focus our efforts on encouraging more Americans across the country to participate in the democratic process. I will continue to defend Illinois law, which empowers people to vote, and oppose any attempts to disenfranchise voters.”

Raoul and the attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin filed a lawsuit earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, explaining that the power to regulate elections is reserved to the states and Congress.

The entire coalition have asked the court to block the challenged provisions of the executive order and declare them unconstitutional and unenforceable because the challenged provisions go beyond the scope of presidential power and are otherwise contrary to law.

In their motion for a preliminary injunction, Raoul and the attorneys general explain that the executive order acutely injures their states’ compelling interest in the integrity of their election processes. For example, the documentary proof of citizenship requirements have necessitated an immediate response from some state elections officials, who must consider how to carry out their voter registration duties subject to the new requirements by meeting with their staff, speaking with local elections officials, and beginning to plan for a near future with the requirements in place — or risk the loss of federal funding.

In addition, to force states to comply with the new ballot receipt deadline, the executive order uses enforcement threats by the U.S. Attorney General and conditions on funding. In order to properly administer elections in line with that new ballot receipt deadline, state elections administrators must devote significant additional resources to training, education and support of local elections officials and the voting public.