NC Joins Lawsuit Against Mail-In Ballot Order

If Pres. Trump has his way, mail-in ballots for future elections will no longer be an option, even though that is the mode of voting he admittedly uses.

In the African American community, the ability to cast a mail-in ballot is important to those who cannot make it to the voting polls on Election Day, like many of the elderly, those who suffer from an affliction that limits their ability to travel, those struggling in the aftermath of a natural disaster, those who will be out of town, and, of course, active-duty personnel who serve in the military.

“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what’s going on,” Trump said, though no such widespread “cheating” has ever been proven. “I think this will help a lot with elections.”

The president wants a nationwide list of verifiable eligible voters and wants the mail-in voting restrictions in place before this fall’s midterm elections.

Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding from Democratic-led states that don’t comply.

More than 20 states don’t agree with the Republican president; they have filed suit in federal court to stop an executive order Trump has issued outlawing mail-in ballots, calling it an “unconstitutional power grab.”

“The president’s latest attempt to interfere with the states’ administration of their elections is as unprecedented as it is unconstitutional,” the suit, filed last week, states.

“Under our Constitution, the president has no authority to restrict voter eligibility or mail voting to lists of voters pre-authorized by the federal government.”

North Carolina’s Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a Democrat, has joined those states in telling the courts that Trump has no constitutional authority over the election process, and thus, cannot stop mail-in ballots. Only the states can.

Saying that he’s acting in particular to safeguard the voting rights of active-duty military personnel, Jackson said in a statement, “Under current law, we can request and receive absentee ballots up until the day before the election, which matters because deployments can happen fast. Under this executive order, our absentee ballots would run a very high risk of being rejected by the post office—essentially thrown in the trash—if we deploy [troops] within 60 days of the election. That is unacceptable.”