Stop Trump’s Plan to Take Over Elections

Postal Service Set to Refuse Delivery of Absentee Ballots

     Earlier this year, Trump ordered the Postal Service to issue a rule that will place your voting record under federal surveillance and could prevent you from receiving an absentee ballot in the November election.

     Executive Order 14399 requires the Postal Service to set up an illegal scheme for requiring state election offices to turn over the names of absentee voters.  If an election office refuses, the Postal Service will not deliver absentee ballots from that office to voters.  Furthermore, the order directs other federal departments to prepare “citizenship lists” and prosecute election workers who register persons not on the list.

     This is nothing short of the Trump Administration picking who can vote and who can’t.

     Trump claims the scheme is to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections.  In fact, it is a scheme to suppress Democratic votes in states that like Georgia are swing states and states like California which have universal mail voting.

     We know that voter suppression is its purpose because Trump has said he wants Republicans to nationalize elections in 15 states.  Among those are swing states he lost in 2020 such as North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan and, of course, Georgia.

     This is just the latest example of Trump’s continuing efforts to sow chaos and corrupt elections so that he can stay in power and his lapdog Republican majority in Congress can continue to protect him from accountability.

     Although two courts have recognized the executive order is unconstitutional and issued injunctions to stop the Postal Service from implementing it, Trump's handpicked Supreme Court majority allowed its implementation to move forward on August 24 without resolving the question of its constitutionality.  The emergency docket decision has been widely criticized, including by three dissenting justices, for causing chaos and confusion around the Nov. 3 election.

     On August 27, Federal Court Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts issued a new restraining order, pointing out that conditions cited by the Supreme Court as allowing a new lawsuit to move forward were satisfied when the USPS published its final rule on August 26.  This blocks implementation of the USPS rule pending a hearing on the merits of the case against it.

     Trump has again appealed Judge Talwani's order to the Supreme Court even though a number of states are already mailing out absentee ballots.  It is becoming increasingly clear Trump intends to do everything in his power to disrupt elections this fall and sow distrust in elections.

     His single-minded effort to disrupt elections has become so onerous even judges he appointed are rebelling and stopping the Postal Service rule from going into effect.  Judge Carl Nichols enjoined the rule based on the likelihood that opponents to it will prevail on the merits in court Sept. 13.  He was appointed to the federal court in Trump's first administration.

     Every voter in Georgia needs to pay attention to the drama unfolding around this question of whether Trump will be allowed to illegally interfere in the midterm election and take away our voting rights.  Here's what you can do:

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1.      Learn more about Trump’s illegal executive order and how it will impact elections here.

2.      Read about what is being done to block Trump’s illegal order here.

3.      Read the letter signed by Senators Ossoff and Warnock directing the Postal Service to abandon the proposed rule here.

4.      Download the Postal Service proposed rule here.

5.      Download and review comments filed by Towns County Democratic Chair David Plunkett here.

6.      Download the Postal Service final rule here.

7.      Download the Supreme Court ruling and Justices Sotomayor's, Kagan's, and Jackson's dissents here.

8.      Download Judge Indira Talwani's restraining order blocking the USPS from implementing its rule here.

9.      Keep up with unfolding Supreme Court actions on this question on the SCOTUS Blog here

10.       Download Judge Carl Nichols injunction order blocking Postal Service Rule here

11.      Make a plan to vote in the Nov. 3 election and vote Democratic!