Democrats sue Trump over his proposed sweeping overhaul of US elections

Yahoo

01-04-2025

Democrats are heading to court to challenge President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to impose federal control over how elections are run throughout the country.
A suit filed Monday in federal court in Washington argues that Trump's March 25 order titled 'Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,' is an unconstitutional attempt to wrestle authority over elections from the states and set new voting requirements such as proof of citizenship and changes to ballot deadline rules.
Nearly the entire Democratic party's fund raising and campaign apparatus joined the suit as did Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, challenging what they called a 'power grab' in a statement announcing their action.
'It's anti-American and Democrats are using every tool at our disposal — including taking Trump to court — to stop this illegal overreach that undermines our democracy,' they said.
The legal action is an attempt to head off an effort to drastically change how elections are administered in the U.S. by a president who has falsely claimed he won the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden and that voters without legal residency have cast large numbers of ballots.
The White House had no immediate comment to the widely expected lawsuit, which names Cabinet secretaries, agencies, and the Department of Government Efficiency overseen by billionaire Elon Musk as well as the president.
Trump's order requires the Election Assistance Commission — an independent agency created in the wake of the 2000 presidential election — to add proof of citizenship to the national voter registration form, which states are required to accept under federal law.
The order also targets mail-in voting, asserting that federal law requires all states to reject ballots not received by Election Day, directing the Justice Department to 'take all necessary action to enforce' the requirement.
Another section of the order empowers DOGE to review voter rolls for compliance with federal laws.
The Democrats challenging the executive order assert that neither Trump, nor any president, has the authority to impose such sweeping changes on how states operate their elections.
'In the United States of America, the President does not get to dictate the rules of our elections,' the suit says. 'Although the Order extensively reflects the President's personal grievances, conspiratorial beliefs, and election denialism, nowhere does it (nor could it) identify any legal authority he possesses to impose such sweeping changes upon how Americans vote.'