BOSTON: A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging US President Donald Trump’s new executive order tightening rules on mail in voting.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Boston, added to the rising number of legal challenges taking aim at the order Trump signed on Tuesday, with cases also being pursued by arms of the Democratic Party and voting rights advocates.
The case was filed by attorneys general in 22 states and the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.
“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and no president has the power to rewrite the rules on his own,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement responded: “Only Democrat politicians and operatives would be upset about lawful efforts to secure American elections and ensure only eligible American citizens are casting ballots.”
Trump, a Republican, has for years pushed the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud and has called for tighter rules on voting by mail ahead of the November midterm elections.
His executive order directs his administration to compile a list of confirmed US citizens eligible to vote in each state and to use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote.
