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‘Confusion, chaos and distrust’: Oregon challenges Trump’s order restricting vote-by-mail

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by Michaela Bourgeois - 04/03/26 9:02 PM ET

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by Michaela Bourgeois - 04/03/26 9:02 PM ET

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging an executive order from President Trump that limits voting by mail.

Attorney General Rayfield joined 22 other attorneys general and one governor in an effort to block Trump’s March 31 executive order. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to create verified voter lists using federal data, including Social Security. Those lists would be transferred to states, including Oregon, to determine who is eligible to vote.

Rayfield argues the order weaponizes the United States Postal Service by giving it rule-making power to determine who gets a ballot through the mail and who doesn’t.

“The United States Postal Service has one job: to deliver the mail. President Trump is trying to give it a second one — deciding which Americans get a ballot,” said Rayfield.

“That is not the postal service’s role, it is not the federal government’s role, and it is not constitutional,” Rayfield argued in a statement. “Trump has spent years weaponizing federal agencies to prop up his false story that fraud cost him the 2020 election. He votes by mail. Oregonians vote by mail. And Oregon will keep running its own elections.”

The lawsuit argues that the executive order violates the separation of powers as the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to conduct elections, not the president.

The attorneys general further that the executive order weaponizes the Postal Service by directing it to withhold ballots from voters that are not on a federally-approved list.

The attorneys general say the order would require states to upend their existing election procedures for upcoming elections and conduct statewide voter education efforts “at a dangerously quick pace – potentially within weeks of primary elections and mere months before the beginning of mail voting for the 2026 general election.”

The attorneys general warn that the executive order will “create confusion, chaos and distrust” in state elections while potentially disenfranchising eligible voters.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) issued a press release Friday in support of the lawsuit, saying, “Today, Oregon is moving to block President Trump’s unconstitutional voter suppression effort,” adding, “His attack on the fundamental right of every American to vote has nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with silencing people so he can ultimately influence election results.”

In a statement shared with KOIN 6 News, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the order, saying, “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 campaigned on securing our elections and the American people sent him back to the White House to get the job done.”

As reported by The Associated Press, critics say Trump’s executive order would offer little time to go through voter rolls before ballots are sent out this fall for elections. Critics also question whether the administration’s voter lists would be reliable.

AP notes that mail voting has existed for more than a century and was increasingly popular in Democratic and Republican states until 2020, when Trump hurled baseless claims of mass voter fraud in mail-in voting. These claims come as Trump himself has voted by mail as recently as last month in a Florida special election.

Oregon has had mail-in voting since 1998. The state legislative fiscal office says there have been very few cases of fraud, and not enough to sway any elections. The state already uses bar codes and signature verification for mail-in ballots, which is something the president’s order also stipulates.

The March executive order comes after Trump signed a similar order last year to overhaul election rules; however, the order was blocked by courts.

Since then, the Trump administration has requested voter rolls from several states, including Oregon. Oregon’s lawsuit was later dismissed.

“Now the administration is trying again, this time using the U.S. Postal Service,” the Oregon attorney general’s office said.

Rayfield is joined in the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governor of Pennsylvania