Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Leads Legal Challenge to Federal Executive Order on Mail Ballots

LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday that the state has joined a coalition of 24 Democratic attorneys general and governors in filing a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that the executive order violates the U.S. Constitution by usurping states' authority to administer their own elections.

The Executive Order at Issue

President Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday, directing the U.S. Postal Service to only send mail ballots to voters on a pre-approved list of eligible voters. The order also requires each authorized mail voter's envelope to have a unique barcode for tracking purposes and directs the Department of Homeland Security to create a list of adult citizens residing in each state.

The order threatens to withhold federal funding from states that do not comply and could subject non-compliant states to investigations.

Michigan Officials' Response

Attorney General Nessel joined the coalition of attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

"Mail-in ballots are a safe and secure voting option that over 2.2 million Michiganders availed themselves to in the 2024 election, many who presumably used that choice to vote for this very President," Nessel said in a statement.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson also weighed in, stating the order was designed to create confusion and chaos. Benson said it will block millions of eligible American citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote if left unchecked.

"The Constitution grants the power and responsibility to run elections to the states, not the president or the federal government," Benson said.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer released a joint statement with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governor's Association. "Democratic governors will always stand up to protect our states and the fundamental right to vote — especially in face of these ongoing attacks and dangerous federal overreach," the statement read.

Legal Arguments

The lawsuit argues that neither the Constitution nor any act of Congress gives the president the authority to mandate sweeping changes to states' electoral systems. The U.S. Constitution delegates states the primary authority to run elections, subject to rules set by Congress, but gives the president no role.

"This power is not the president's to give. The constitution is clear: The president cannot direct or control our state voting laws, and no scribble of his sharpie can give him the authority that he so desperately seeks," Nessel said.

"We know how harmful talk-based conversion therapy is," Kaplan said. "The ruling still does not give it credibility, and individuals still have a right to bring a malpractice action against a therapist for doing it," he said, although minors cannot bring a malpractice suit on their own.

The lawsuit named Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Social Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, and several federal officials as defendants.

Context

This lawsuit is at least the fourth that has been filed against the executive order since Trump signed it late Tuesday. Two separate coalitions of voting-rights advocacy groups sued Thursday, with one filing a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts and the other in Washington, D.C.

Democratic Party groups filed the first lawsuit in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted mail-in voting, arguing without evidence that it compromises election integrity and enables fraud. In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, at a time where the CDC advised against large indoor gatherings, Trump expressed opposition to efforts to expand absentee voting.

After the 2020 presidential election, Trump claimed without evidence election fraud contributed to his loss. In August 2025, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he wanted to eliminate mail-in voting to restore "honesty" in the 2026 midterms.

According to census data, nearly a third of the country voted by mail in the 2024 presidential election, which Trump won.

The 2018 Michigan Amendment

Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment in 2018 that expanded rights to vote by mail or using secure ballot drop boxes. More than 1.8 million voters signed up to vote absentee in every election.

Municipal clerks are required to verify signatures on absentee ballots as part of the law. Ballot drop boxes also must be secure with video monitoring and bipartisan election workers must oversee processing of absentee ballots.

White House Response

The White House pushed back against the legal challenge. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, "Only Democrat politicians and operatives would be upset about lawful efforts to secure American elections and ensure only eligible American citizens are casting ballots."

President Trump has long claimed, without evidence, that mail voting is rife with fraud and has sought to curtail it. According to research from the Brookings Institute last November, mail voting fraud accounted for 0.000043% of all mail ballots cast. That is about 4 out of every 10 million.

Previous Legal Challenges

This week's lawsuit is the latest judiciary clash between the Trump administration and the states over election issues. The U.S. Department of Justice has sued 30 states, including Pennsylvania, plus the District of Columbia over their refusal to turn over complete versions of their voter rolls.

The Pennsylvania Department of State argues turning over the data would be illegal because it contains private information. Pennsylvania's motion to dismiss that case is currently pending.

What's Next

The lawsuit seeks to prevent the federal government from implementing or enforcing Trump's order. The court has until Friday to decide whether to allow the lawsuit to proceed to trial.

Michigan officials say they will continue to monitor the situation and are prepared to take additional legal action if necessary to protect Michigan voters' rights.