Oregon officials vow to keep fighting Trump’s mail voting order

Oregon’s governor, chief election official and top lawyer vowed Monday to continue fighting President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict mail ballots after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue implementing an executive order.

Trump’s March order and subsequent U.S. Postal Service rules seek to limit mail voting by requiring state election officials to redesign ballot envelopes and turn over lists of voters’ names and addresses to the postal service. USPS would not deliver ballots to any voters not on that list.

Oregon joined 23 other Democratic-led states in suing to block the order, and a federal district judge in Massachusetts ordered a preliminary injunction blocking the order from moving forward earlier in August. But the Postal Service issued a final rule Friday detailing how the process would be carried out, and the Supreme Court on Monday issued an unsigned emergency docket opinion essentially finding that the states sued too early.

U.S. Supreme Court lifts pause on Trump mail-ballot order

The court did not weigh in on whether the federal government’s efforts to enforce the order would ultimately be found unconstitutional.  

The court’s decision, which arrived 51 days before Oregon officials can start mailing ballots to all of the state’s more than 3 million voters, increased uncertainty around the November election. Gov. Tina Kotek, Secretary of State Tobias Read and Attorney General Dan Rayfield, all Democrats, quickly condemned it and vowed to continue fighting any federal actions that would affect Oregon’s ability to run elections. 

“The bottom line is: Oregon’s elections are secure, accurate and fair,” Read said in a statement. “They will proceed as planned this November, free from any illegal federal interference. We will stand up for Oregonians’ right to vote and run elections. We will continue to challenge this over-reaching executive order in court with the attorney general when the time is right.”

Rayfield, who described the ruling as a “temporary setback,” said he will immediately sue to block any USPS efforts to interfere with mail voting. 

“The right to vote is sacred, and Oregonians know that voting by mail is safe, secure and accurate,” he said. “We’re not going to let Donald Trump interfere in our elections — and we’re certainly not going to let him decide who gets a ballot and who doesn’t.”

Kotek reiterated that states have always had the responsibility to run elections. 

“President Trump’s directive to the United States Postal Service is unconstitutional and an assault on our democracy and designed to silence voters,” she said. “Oregon has been conducting elections by mail-in voting safely and securely for decades. My message to the President is clear: keep your hands off our elections.”

Oregon has voted entirely by mail for more than 25 years and enjoys some of the highest voter turnout rates in the country. Oregonians can learn more about registering to vote, voting by mail and election security from the Secretary of State’s Office.