04.27.26

Cantwell Co-Introduces Bill to Block Trump’s Executive Order Restricting Vote by Mail

ICYMI: Cantwell, colleagues warn USPS that complying with Trump’s illegal mail-in voting executive order would be “a blatant violation of the Constitution”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined 39 Senate colleagues in introducing the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act (Absentee MVP Act) to block President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional executive order attacking mail and absentee ballots and protect the right to vote by mail.

“This Executive Order on vote-by-mail is one more unconstitutional effort by the President to grab control of our elections,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Washingtonians cherish voting by mail because they know it is secure and convenient. This bill will help protect our state’s mail-in voting system from attacks by this or any future administration.”

The Absentee MVP Act would nullify Trump’s unlawful March 31 executive order (EO) that aims to illegally re-write federal election rules or any similar order and prohibit the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and any other agency from spending funds to implement actions in the President’s unconstitutional executive order. At its core, the EO would give the USPS sweeping new authority to decide which voters may cast ballots by mail by ordering the USPS to reject and refuse delivery of lawful ballots unless states comply with newly established federal eligibility lists. Those who do not comply with these restrictions would face serious consequences: election officials, mail carriers, and others who send or deliver ballots to voters the administration considers ineligible could face criminal charges, and states and local governments forfeit federal funding. To lay the groundwork for this override of existing state and federal voting laws, the order also tasks DHS with building state-by-state rosters of voting-age American citizens — drawn from federal data sources widely considered to be incomplete and unreliable.

In addition to nullifying the EO, the legislation bars any similar EO and provides additional limits on Trump Administration attempts to implement the actions in the EO, including by:

  • Blocking the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS from sharing state voter lists
  • Defunding the DOJ’s efforts to compel production of state voter lists
  • Enforcing the Privacy Act by barring federal agencies from improperly sharing voter data, both within the government and with outside groups
  • Defunding any future Commerce Department efforts to enact partisan regulation of mail-in ballots

“The Constitution is clear. Elections belong to Congress and the states, not the President. You do not protect them by building federal lists out of flawed data,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC National President and Board Chairman.

“No president — Trump or any to come — should be able to change the rules of an election in order to keep power and disenfranchise eligible voters. This bill pushes back on the Trump Administration’s illegal executive order that attempts to do just that. It is a strong, forward-looking step to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure voters decide elections, not politicians,” said Cole Leiter, Executive Director, Americans Against Government Censorship.

“For generations, service members have relied on mail and absentee ballots to exercise the rights they serve to defend. This legislation protects that lifeline and makes clear that no administration should be able to undermine access to the ballot for political gain. Our democracy is strongest when every eligible voter can participate without fear or interference,” said Janessa Goldbeck, Marine Corps Veteran and CEO, Vet Voice Foundation.

The legislation was led by U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and is co-sponsored by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Sen. Cantwell also joined 36 other senators in a letter to the USPS Board of Governors and Postmaster General David Steiner demanding that USPS follow the law and not implement President Trump’s unlawful executive order.

“The Constitution provides no role for the President in regulating federal elections. And no statute delegates to the President any authority to regulate elections or voter eligibility either, including via USPS,” the senators wrote. “Like the President, the Postal Service has no authority to regulate the manner of voting in federal elections, nor who is eligible to vote by mail in such elections. For over 250 years, the Postal Service has bound our country together with a constitutionally recognized mail service, and for 250 years, the American people have democratically elected their leaders. Any attempt to effectuate this order would violate the Constitution, break these bonds, and threaten the foundations of American democracy.”

The Absentee MVP Act is available HERE.

Full text of the USPS letter is available HERE.

In the 2024 election, nearly 48 million people – almost a third of all voters – cast their ballots by mail. All states offer registered voters the opportunity to vote by mail in federal general elections and 12 states, including Washington – an early pioneer in expanding by-mail voting – conducted their 2024 elections entirely by mail. Washington state started vote-by-mail in 1983, adopted optional vote-by-mail in 2005, and enacted universal vote-by-mail in 2011.

Sen. Cantwell has been a stalwart defender of mail-in voting, and against overreach of the Trump administration into our elections:

  • On April 1, after the executive order on mail-in voting was announced, she issued a statement in opposition.
  • On March 18, she convened a group of current and former elected officials and representatives of nonpartisan voter advocacy groups for a virtual press conference on defending voter access. Video of that entire virtual press conference is HERE; video of Sen. Cantwell’s statement is HERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s statement is HERE.
  • On March 15, she issued a snapshot report showing that the SAVE America Act – a voter suppression bill – would cost Washington state taxpayers more than $35 million this year alone.
  • On Feb. 24, Sen. Cantwell invited Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs as her guest to President Trump’s State of the Union address to draw attention to the issue.
  • On Feb. 20, she convened local leaders in Seattle for a press conference urging Washingtonians to fight back against these proposed new burdens to voting.
  • On Feb. 19, she gathered in Vancouver with the Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey and local chapter heads of the League of Women Voters and the NAACP for a press conference on how this bill would disenfranchise voters.
  • Also on Feb. 19, she released a snapshot report showing who in Washington would face undue hurdles to voting if the SAVE America Act were signed into law. The report shows that certain populations – including people who live in rural areas, women who changed their name after marriage, and people who recently moved – would face additional, cumbersome burdens to prove their citizenship.
  • On Feb. 5, she appeared on MSNOW’s Morning Joe to push back against the Trump administration’s heightened efforts to interfere in state-run elections and collect private data on American voters. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s appearance is HERE; a transcript is HERE.
  • On Jan. 29, Sen. Cantwell joined Senate colleagues in a letter to then Attorney General Pam Bondi, pushing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop its unlawful pressure campaign to coerce dozens of states into providing the Trump Administration their voter rolls, which include voters’ personally identifiable information. DOJ has sued 24 states – including Washington state – and the District of Columbia demanding the personal information of their voters.
  • On Jan. 15, she joined Senate colleagues in a letter to USPS Postmaster General David Steiner raising concerns with recent developments affecting postmark practices. Right before the holiday season, USPS changed its postmark practices, which could have significant impacts on voters nationwide and in Washington state – including rural voters, military and overseas voters, and many others who rely on rely on the mail to safely and securely cast their ballot.
  • On Jan. 9, she joined 13 Senate colleagues in filing an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a significant case pending before the Court that affects voting by mail. The case, brought by the Republican National Committee, threatens the election administration practices of states like Washington that permit the counting of mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted when they are received within a certain number of days after Election Day. The Court heard oral arguments in the case last month and a ruling is pending.

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