Virginia leaders pledge to fight Trump’s ‘illegal’ executive order restricting mail-in voting

A new executive order from President Donald Trump seeking to take more control of mail-in voting is broadly viewed as unconstitutional.

Virginia Democrats are denouncing President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting and create a national voter list. 

According to the election law professor Richard Hasen, Trump’s order released Tuesday would have the US Department of Homeland Security create a list of voters and have the United States Postal Service only mail ballots to voters on this list with “unique identifiers” like barcodes issued by DHS. 

Hasen concludes Trump does not have the authority to do this, and several states have already said they intend to sue over the order.

Even if it somehow holds up in court, it’s not clear there’s enough time to implement it ahead of the November elections, Hasen said.

“It raises the question if this is just more election denialism theater,” Hasen wrote. “That’s what it looks like, rather than a serious effort to craft a law that could be implemented and withstand constitutional scrutiny.”

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones pledged to help fight Trump’s order in court, calling it a “blatantly illegal and malicious attempt to block access to the ballot.” 

“His order restricting mail-in voting is riddled with legal fallacies and authoritarian directives – it will be challenged and it will be defeated,” Jones said in a statement. 

US Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia’s 3rd congressional district said Trump’s executive order was unconstitutional and would be overturned. 

“Donald Trump is, once again, engaging in voter suppression, even after he voted by mail himself in the recent Special Election in Florida,” Scott said on X. 

Trump’s attempts to change voting law are seen by some as part of a broader strategy to limit which voters get to exercise their rights at the ballot box and help Republicans win elections. 

“The President’s order is not about protecting elections — it’s about trying to control them and using that control to make it harder to vote for his perceived enemies,” Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. 

This is just the latest of Trump’s efforts to influence elections ahead of the November midterms. He kicked off the nationwide redistricting fight by pressuring Republican states to gerrymander their congressional maps. He’s called for Republicans to “nationalize elections.” And he wants them to pass legislation making it harder for people to register to vote.  

Meanwhile, Trump’s popularity has plummeted. His average approval rating across different polls is now below 40%.