Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joins 19 counterparts in trying to stop Trump election order
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 19 other attorneys general in filing a motion to halt the implementation of an executive order regarding elections signed by President Donald Trump in March.
Trump’s order, issued March 25, demands states not count mail-in ballots received after Election Day — even those postmarked prior to the election, which Illinois and 17 other states allow — and requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply.
The attorneys general cited the Constitution’s elections clause, which allows Congress to regulate voting but designates states as the deciding power in the “time, place and manner” of holding elections.
They said the order would create financial and administrative burdens for states to quickly implement it while also disenfranchising voters and creating doubt around the country’s electoral systems.
“By issuing these directives, the president attempts to seize a power that does not belong to him,” the motion reads. “The Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections. … The constitutional provisions that govern federal elections are clear: the power to regulate federal elections rests exclusively with the States and Congress.”
The group — consisting of officials from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — sought to stop the order through a preliminary injunction.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Congressional Republicans could enact similar ID requirements for voting with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month in their second attempt to push it through.
An estimated 9% of voting-age U.S. citizens, or 21.3 million people, don’t have proof of citizenship readily available, according to a 2023 report by the Brennan Center for Justice and other groups. The study also found racial disparities in the numbers, with about 8% of white voting-age U.S. citizens not having citizenship documents readily available compared to 11% of voting-age U.S. citizens of color.
“Instead of imposing voting restrictions, we should focus our efforts on encouraging more Americans across the country to participate in the democratic process,” Raoul said in a statement Monday. “I will continue to defend Illinois law, which empowers people to vote, and oppose any attempts to disenfranchise voters.”