A federal judge in Washington State partially blocked President Trump’s executive order enacting election integrity reforms, ruling that Trump cannot mandate Election Day as the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots, a central element of the March order.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by Washington and Oregon in April, which argued that the executive order violated the Constitution. In a 75-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge John H. Chun, a Biden appointee, wrote that “The Constitution assigns the states all authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections,” adding that the President ‘lacks authority’ to impose a national ballot-receipt deadline.
The court also blocked a provision aimed at withholding federal funding from states that do not require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a separate case on the legality of accepting ballots received after Election Day, with arguments and a decision expected later this year.
