President Donald Trump is seeking to tighten national rules on mail-in ballots in a move that could impact Massachusetts's upcoming midterm elections.
On July 27, the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to let the administration carry out an executive order that seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters and limit delivery of mail ballots only to people on that list after lower courts in Boston blocked it in nearly half the country.
If Trump's executive order is allowed to proceed, it has the potential to affect Massachusetts' elections, in which many people vote by mail. In the 2024 presidential election, 34.2% of ballots in Massachusetts were cast by mail.
In Massachusetts, no-excuse early voting by mail is available for most elections, including state elections and primaries, presidential primaries, and most local elections. Residents can request vote by mail ballots online, by mail or by email or fax.
Trump, who has voted by mail himself, contends absentee ballots are often fraudulent. However, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said that vote by mail is secure and functioning well in Massachusetts, with no evidence of widespread fraud.
"Let's call this what it is: it's an attack on Americans' constitutional right to vote," Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a post on social media about the appeal July 27. "Vote-by-mail works. In Massachusetts, our elections are safe, secure, and accessible — and I'll do everything in my power to make sure they stay that way."
Under the Constitution, states are assigned the role of administering federal elections. But Trump has called for greater federal control since losing his 2020 reelection campaign, also calling for requiring voters to provide identification at polling places and proof of citizenship when registering. He's continued to push the false claim that he lost because of widespread voter fraud.
The latest fight over rules for absentee ballots comes just ahead of the midterm elections, which will determine which party controls Congress. Nearly 30% of voters cast a ballot by mail in the 2024 elections, and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail.
In June, a federal judge in Boston said key parts of that executive order were unconstitutional, ruling that those components can't be enforced this year in the 23 states that are challenging the order, including Massachusetts.
And in July, an appeals court rejected the administration's argument that the states' lawsuit was premature because the executive order has not been fully implemented.
The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the changes are already straining states and "would sow confusion and threaten disenfranchisement of many eligible voters" if allowed to go into effect for the November elections.
But the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that pausing Trump's executive order was wrong because the lower court "preemptively decided that whatever the agencies may choose to do will necessarily be unlawful," the government's lawyers wrote.
The Supreme Court asked the states challenging the order to respond to the administration's appeal by Aug. 3.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Trump asks Supreme Court help on mail-in ballots. How would it affect MA?