On March 31 2026, President Trump issued an executive order on mail-in voting. The order attempts to displace every state’s mail-in voting laws by transforming the US Postal Service from a neutral mail carrier to an arbiter of who may cast a ballot by mail.
The order also requires the Department of Homeland Security to build and give each state a federally created list of citizens eligible to vote. Given that federal databases are out-of-date and unreliable, this risks mass disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
The US Constitution explicitly states in Article 1: Section 4, that only Congress and the states can set the rules for elections.
That same day, in response, the National League of Women Voters releaseda statement condemning the action.
On April 2, the Massachusetts LWV, along with a coalition of voting rights organizations, represented by the ACLU, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging President Trump's Executive Order.
At a time when core tenets of our democracy are being tested, the LWV remains guided by the values that have defined our work for more than a century. Elections must be free, fair, and accessible, and voters, not politicians, must be at the center of our system.
The administration’s latest executive order represents a significant shift in how federal power is being wielded over elections, raising serious concerns about federal overreach, voter disenfranchisement, and the safety of election administrators.
The League will not accept policies that narrow who can participate in our democracy or undermine the constitutional role of the states.
We have met challenges like this before, and we will do so again through advocacy, education, and litigation when necessary to protect every eligible voter’s right to be heard.