Democrats sue Trump administration over election executive order

WASHINGTON – The Democratic Party has asked a US court to block Republican President Donald Trump’s executive order overhauling the election system, arguing the changes risked denying eligible American citizens the right to vote.

In a lawsuit against the Trump administration filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the Democratic National Committee said Mr Trump exceeded his authority in the March 25 order by

requiring voters to prove they are US citizens

, preventing states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, and threatening to take federal funding away from states that do not comply.

“The executive order seeks to impose radical changes on how Americans register to vote, cast a ballot and participate in our democracy – all of which threaten to disenfranchise lawful voters and none of which is legal,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by long-time Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias and other lawyers at his firm.

Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the leaders of the Democratic minorities in the US Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, are also plaintiffs in the case.

The Trump administration has previously argued the order would prevent foreign nationals from interfering in US elections.

Mr Trump has long questioned the US electoral system and continues to falsely claim that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.

The President and his Republican allies also have made baseless claims about widespread voting by non-citizens, which is illegal and rarely occurs.

In their lawsuit, the Democrats said the US Constitution empowers individual states and Congress – not the President – to control how federal elections are conducted. They said this was critical to making sure presidents do not seek to change election rules to favour themselves.

“The framers of our federal Constitution foresaw that self-interested and self-aggrandising leaders might seek to corrupt our democratic system of government to expand and preserve their own power,” the lawsuit read.

Earlier on March 31, voting rights groups, including the Campaign Legal Centre and State Democracy Defenders Fund, brought a separate legal challenge to the executive order. REUTERS