{"id":58951,"date":"2026-04-08T12:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/?post_type=work&p=58951"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:19:39","slug":"common-cause-naacp-and-black-voters-matter-sue-to-protect-your-right-to-vote-by-mail","status":"publish","type":"work","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/tl\/work\/common-cause-naacp-and-black-voters-matter-sue-to-protect-your-right-to-vote-by-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Cause, NAACP, and Black Voters Matter Sue to Protect Your Right to Vote by Mail"},"template":"","class_list":["post-58951","work","type-work","status-publish","hentry","work_type-litigation"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"On March 31, 2026, President Trump signed an illegal Executive Order to control who can vote, block mail ballots, and prosecute election officials who refuse to comply. Common Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter are suing to stop it before the 2026 midterms.","featured_image":"","work_type":157,"related_issues":false,"location":46},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Common Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter have filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Trump\u2019s March 31, 2026 Executive Order, which attempts to seize control of who can vote in federal elections, weaponize the U.S. Postal Service against mail-in voters, and threaten local election officials with criminal prosecution. A federal court in Washington, D.C. will now decide whether the President has the power to unilaterally rewrite the rules of American elections.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

Common Cause Joins NAACP and Black Voters Matter to Block Trump\u2019s Election Power Grab<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nBy law, it is Congress and the states \u2014 not the President \u2014 that have the authority to regulate federal elections. Yet on March 31, 2026, just days after the U.S. Senate once again rejected his preferred election legislation, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled \u201cEnsuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,\u201d\u00a0attempting\u00a0to do by executive fiat what he could not get done through Congress.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe order would force the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0(DHS)\u00a0to compile\u00a0so-called \u201cState Citizenship Lists\u201d drawn from notoriously inaccurate federal databases, direct the U.S. Postal Service to block the delivery of mail-in ballots for anyone not on a federally controlled list, and instruct the Department of Justice\u00a0(DOJ)\u00a0to investigate and prosecute state and local election officials who allow voters not approved by DHS to cast a ballot.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

What Trump\u2019s Executive Order Actually Does<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nTrump\u2019s order creates a sweeping and confusing new system designed to give the federal executive branch veto power over who can vote. Specifically, the order:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • Directs DHS<\/span><\/b>\u202fto compile a list of\u00a0purportedly eligible\u00a0voters in\u00a0each\u00a0state, drawn from the SAVE immigration database and Social Security records \u2014 databases that are incomplete, outdated, and not designed to verify citizenship\u00a0or state residence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  • Orders the U.S. Postal Service<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0an\u00a0independent\u00a0agency,\u202fto refuse delivery of mail-in and absentee ballots for any voter not enrolled on a federally\u00a0created\u00a0\u201cMail-In and Absentee Participation List\u201d \u2014 without any requirement to notify the voter or the state that their ballot was blocked.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  • Threatens criminal prosecution<\/span><\/b>\u202fof state and local election officials,\u00a0individuals, and organizations that help voters cast ballots if\u00a0the\u00a0federal government\u00a0views\u00a0those voters\u00a0as\u00a0ineligible \u2014 a provision that directly chills voter\u00a0assistance\u00a0work by organizations like Common Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
      \r\n \t
    • Threatens to withhold federal funding<\/span><\/b>\u202ffrom any state that does not\u00a0comply with\u00a0the\u00a0order\u2019s\u00a0demands.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

      Why the Databases Trump Is Relying\u00a0On\u00a0Cannot Be Trusted<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nThe Executive Order rests on a foundation of flawed data. The federal databases it relies upon are not designed to verify voter eligibility \u2014 and courts and government auditors have repeatedly found them to be unreliable for that purpose.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe SSA database does not consistently\u00a0maintain\u00a0citizenship data for Americans born before 1981 \u2014 meaning more than 140 million people may not be verifiable as citizens through SSA records alone. SSA itself has\u00a0stated\u00a0that its citizenship records \u201cmerely represent a snapshot\u201d of a person\u2019s status at the time they interacted with the agency, and that SSA \u201cis not the agency responsible for making citizenship determinations.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0DHS\u00a0SAVE system was created to check immigration status for benefits eligibility \u2014 not to\u00a0identify\u00a0U.S. citizens. A North Carolina audit found that 97.6% of people flagged as noncitizens by SAVE were, in fact, citizens. Even the DOJ has acknowledged in court that SAVE has \u201choles in the process,\u201d particularly for derived citizens whose parents naturalized when they were minors. Relying on these databases to\u00a0determine\u00a0who can vote \u2014 and whose ballot gets delivered \u2014 will inevitably result in the disenfranchisement of millions of eligible Americans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

      A Pattern of Unconstitutional Overreach<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nThis Executive Order is not Trump\u2019s first attempt to seize control of elections. In March 2025, he issued Executive Order 14248, which\u00a0attempted\u00a0to\u00a0impose\u00a0restrictive documentary proof of citizenship requirements on voter registration. A federal court struck that order down, concluding that \u201cthe President has no constitutional power over election regulation that would support this unilateral exercise of authority.\u201d Two other federal courts reached the same conclusion.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nDespite those rulings, the President issued this new order \u2014 an escalation that the lawsuit describes as a continuation of the same illegal power grab. The timing is telling: the order was signed just days after the Senate voted down the SAVE America Act, the legislation through which Trump had\u00a0sought\u00a0to enact\u00a0many\u00a0similar\u00a0voting\u00a0restrictions. When Congress refused to act, Trump acted anyway.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

      What Is at Risk: Millions of Voters,\u00a0Ahead\u00a0of the 2026 Midterms<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nThe stakes could not be higher.\u00a0Nearly one\u00a0in three Americans cast their ballot by mail in the 2024 federal election. Racial minorities rely on mail voting at especially high rates \u2014\u00a0roughly 18%\u00a0of Black voters, one-third of Hispanic voters, and half of Asian American voters cast mail ballots in 2024. These same communities already face disproportionate rates of mail ballot rejection.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIf this order takes effect, eligible voters could find their ballots blocked by the Postal Service with no notice and no clear path to challenge their exclusion. Voter registration and\u00a0assistance\u00a0organizations \u2014 including Common Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter \u2014 could face federal investigation simply\u00a0for helping\u00a0voters navigate the\u00a0voting\u00a0process.\u00a0And states that refuse to\u00a0comply with\u00a0the order\u2019s unconstitutional demands could lose critical federal funding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

      What Happens Next<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\nCommon Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare the Executive Order unconstitutional and permanently block its implementation. The lawsuit argues that the order violates the separation of powers, usurps authority that the Constitution assigns exclusively to Congress and the states, unconstitutionally burdens the fundamental right to vote, exceeds the President\u2019s authority over the independent U.S. Postal Service, and violates the Privacy Act by directing federal agencies to share sensitive personal data without lawful authorization.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_accordion","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_accordion":{"heading":"F.A.Q.","panels":[{"panel_heading":"What is the current status of the lawsuit against Trump\u2019s Executive Order? ","panel_copy":"The complaint was filed on April 3,\u00a0<\/span>2026<\/span>\u00a0in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Common Cause, the NAACP, and Black Voters Matter are seeking a declaration that the order is\u00a0<\/span>unconstitutional<\/span>\u00a0and a permanent injunction blocking its implementation.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>"},{"panel_heading":"Why is the order unconstitutional?","panel_copy":"The Constitution assigns authority over federal elections to the states and Congress \u2014 not the President. Multiple federal courts have already ruled that the President has no constitutional power to unilaterally regulate elections. This order repeats that same illegal overreach on an even larger\u00a0<\/span>scale, and<\/span>\u00a0also\u00a0<\/span>attempts<\/span>\u00a0to direct the U.S. Postal Service \u2014 an independent agency outside presidential control \u2014 to enforce its voter eligibility determinations.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>"},{"panel_heading":"Which voters are most at risk under this order? ","panel_copy":"If implemented,\u00a0the\u00a0order\u00a0could prevent millions of eligible voters from casting a ballot in the 2026 midterms.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0order\u00a0increases the\u00a0risk that states will purge\u00a0eligible voters based on\u00a0faulty federal databases\u00a0and poses\u00a0particular threats\u00a0for individuals who have had name changes or became naturalized citizens.\u00a0It\u00a0would\u00a0also\u00a0require states to\u00a0submit\u00a0lists of mail voters to the Postal Service\u00a060 days\u00a0before each federal election \u2014 before the deadline to even register to vote in many states.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly one\u00a0in three Americans cast their ballot by mail in the 2024 federal election. Racial minorities rely on mail voting at especially high rates \u2014\u00a0roughly 18%\u00a0of Black voters, one-third of Hispanic voters, and half of Asian American voters cast mail ballots in 2024.\u00a0All of\u00a0these voters face a heightened risk that the USPS would refuse their ballot without notice or recourse.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>"},{"panel_heading":"Does this order create risks for voter assistance organizations? ","panel_copy":"The order directs the Attorney General to prioritize investigation and prosecution of anyone who\u00a0<\/span>assists<\/span>\u00a0in the distribution of ballots to individuals\u00a0<\/span>the federal government<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>deems<\/span>\u00a0ineligible. Because the underlying databases are riddled with errors, this provision creates a serious legal threat for voter\u00a0<\/span>assistance<\/span>\u00a0organizations \u2014 even when they are helping fully eligible voters \u2014 and is designed to chill lawful voter education and outreach work.<\/span>"}]}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_take_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_take_action":{"heading":"Take Action","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"action":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_banner","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_banner":{"use_donate_banner":true,"title":"Title [highlight]with highlighting[\/highlight] and additional text.","button":null,"image":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_related_articles","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_related_articles":{"heading":"Updates","button_text":"See all Related Articles","manually_curate":false,"articles":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_resources","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_resources":{"heading":"Related Resources","button_text":"See all Related Resources","manually_curate":false,"resource":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_press","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_press":{"heading":"Press","button_text":"","manually_curate":false,"press":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_events","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_events":{"heading":"Events"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_our_experts","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_our_experts":{"heading":"","manually_curate":false,"people":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nCommon Cause, NAACP, and Black Voters Matter Sue to Protect Your Right to Vote by Mail - 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