In response to a March 31 executive order signed by President Donald Trump, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has threatened to challenge the order in court.
The order directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to work together to create a list of eligible voters in each state. It directs the U.S. Postal Service to only send mail ballots to voters on these lists. The order also requires ballots to have unique barcodes, for tracking purposes.
When Trump signed the order, he said it was meant to increase the security of mail-in voting.
“This came up with some great legal minds. They looked at the various documents and everything that was going on because the cheating on mail-in voting is legendary,” he said. “It's horrible what's gone on.”
There is no evidence of widespread mail-in voting fraud. According to research from the Brookings Institute last November, mail voting fraud accounted for 0.000043% of all mail ballots cast. That is about 4 out of every 10 million.
Not only was the order a response to a nonexistent problem, said Benson in a statement, but it's also "illegal on its face. States run elections, not the president,” Benson said.
According to the U.S. Constitution, states are able to set the “Times, Place, and Manner” of federal elections, and Congress is able to enact changes.
Benson claimed the order is a result of Republican’s struggles to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE America Act, without Democratic support. The stated goal of the legislation is to make sure only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. Although noncitizen voting is already illegal, the SAVE Act would add new documentation requirements.
"As secretary of state, I will protect the votes and voices of Michiganders. The law is on our side, and I will take swift action to fight this illegal order in court," Benson said.
Attorney General Dana Nessel and Governor Gretchen Whitmer also released statements opposing Trump's order.
Nessel also said she would be open to pursuing legal action against the executive order, as her office has done in the past against similar orders.
“This power is not the president’s to give. The constitution is clear: The president cannot direct or control our state voting laws, and no scribble of his sharpie can give him the authority that he so desperately seeks. Whether issued in delusion or in an attempt to distract the country from his failures in the Middle East, there is simply no possible legal authority to support this executive order,” she said.
Whitmer, speaking in her role as vice chair of the Democratic Governor’s Association, released a joint statement with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, chair of the association.
“Democratic governors will always stand up to protect our states and the fundamental right to vote — especially in the face of these ongoing attacks and dangerous federal overreach,” the statement read.
