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Asian Law Caucus and 24 Civil Rights Groups Urge Supreme Court to Block Trump Order Threatening Mail-in Ballots
SAN FRANCISCO – Asian Law Caucus, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, South Asian American Justice Collaborative, and Common Cause today filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on the behalf of 24 organizations urging the Court to reject the Trump administration’s request to reinstate Executive Order 14399 while litigation continues. The filing comes after a federal court blocked key provisions of the Executive Order and the Trump administration and intervenor states asked the Supreme Court to allow its implementation while the case proceeds. With the November midterm elections only months away, civil rights and community organizations are alarmed by the Executive Order, which would undermine access to the ballot, potentially disenfranchising tens of millions of American voters, and bring federal interference into state elections administration. Many of these organizations have spent decades providing direct services and conducting voter outreach and education and urge the Supreme Court to deny the stay of the lower court’s decision invalidating the main sections of the Executive Order. In addition to disenfranchising eligible voters, the Executive Order creates confusion and doubt for all eligible voters seeking to mail in their ballots.
“This Executive Order is a naked attempt to keep too many Americans from voting. Almost half of Asian American voters cast their ballots by mail and many Americans could have their essential right to vote thrown out by a faulty federal system,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director at Asian Law Caucus. “While the Trump administration manufactures yet another crisis, the Asian Law Caucus and our coalition partners are doing the real work of protecting our democracy by training and deploying poll monitors, running an election day hotline, and staying in direct communication with local election officials. Every eligible voter gets to have a say, and we will continue to defend the right to vote.”
“For many voters—especially Asian Americans, naturalized citizens, disabled folks, and voters with limited English proficiency—mail ballot voting is the most practical, and often only way, to cast their vote and participate in our democracy,” said Ronak Patel, staff attorney with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). The federal government's attempt to control states' vote-by-mail programs fails its supposed objectives of protecting against violations of federal law and maintaining public confidence in elections. Instead, it has caused confusion among voters and jeopardized the franchise of millions of American citizens.”
"Trump’s Executive Order directs the Department of Homeland Security to create ‘Citizenship Lists’. This is dangerous because federal databases like SAVE are often incomplete, and SAVE data has resulted in thousands of failures to correctly identify citizens," said Meredyth Yoon, litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta. "The EO threatens to block many eligible voters who rely on voting by mail from casting their ballots, including voters with limited mobility or English proficiency. We are asking the Supreme Court to uphold the status quo by allowing the injunction to remain in effect. The real danger of blocking citizens from voting is far worse than the prospect of noncitizens voting, which evidence consistently shows is a non-issue."
Inaccurate, federally-compiled “state citizenship lists” risk disenfranchising eligible voters
Despite clear evidence that noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare, the Trump administration continues to dedicate immense resources to scrutinizing state elections officials. Executive Order instructs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to compile “‘state citizenship lists” that would use the unreliable federal SAVE database, which the federal government concedes is both incomplete and inaccurate. The federal system has a history of errors and leaves many groups vulnerable to losing their ability to vote due to federal bureaucratic errors—including naturalized citizens, members of communities that have historically experienced discrimination in voting, older individuals, voters with disabilities, voters who are low-income, without access to documentation of their citizenship status or who regularly move and change addresses.
Mail-in ballot changes create confusion and obstacles for voters
The Executive Order also orders the United States Postal Service (USPS) to withhold ballots to voters who do not appear on the lists compiled by DHS and SSA. Tasking three agencies with the power to decide who can vote and who receives a ballot is an extreme departure, as state elections officials maintain constitutional authority to run elections. Executive Order 14399 is the latest step in the administration’s effort to undermine voter confidence in the elections and create widespread confusion and, ultimately, disenfranchise voters. Millions of Americans—voters of color, naturalized citizens, elderly voters, voters with limited English proficiency, and voters with disabilities—rely on voting by mail. For organizations that conduct voter outreach and education, the confusion caused by the Executive Order has added an additional burden as they address voter concerns and ensure that their communities can cast their ballots.
Signatories to the legal brief include AAPI Equity Alliance, Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity, Asian Americans Advancing Justice of Southern California, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey, Asian Law Alliance, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, Asian Refugees United, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Equal Justice Society, Hands United, LEAD Filipino, Mekong NYC, Miami Valley Immigration Coalition, OneAmerica, Parent-Child Relationship Association, Public Counsel, SAATH, SAAVETX Education Fund, Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Stop AAPI Hate, and The Workers Circle.