AG Nessel Joins Multistate Opposition to Postal Service’s Attempt to Undermine Voting Rights

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a multistate coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing a formal comment letter (PDF) opposing the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) attempt to aid President Donald Trump’s efforts to seize control of elections and restrict mail-in voting through a proposed rule and asking the USPS to withdraw the proposed rule.

“The Trump administration has spent more than a year scheming to hijack state elections in an attempt to sow chaos and suppress votes,” said Attorney General Nessel. “Thankfully, time and again, my office and a coalition of attorneys general have defeated them in court. This proposed USPS rule directly violates those court orders and must be rescinded.”

On March 31, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the USPS, an independent federal agency, to transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. In the order, the President threatened states and elections officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands.

In a lawsuit joined by Attorney General Nessel, a federal judge issued an order barring that executive order from being enforced for the 2026 midterm elections. Nevertheless, the USPS has so far not rescinded its proposed rule to implement Trump’s illegal executive order. Under the proposed rule, the USPS would create a centralized list of voter information and would refuse to deliver ballots to any eligible voter who is not on that list, essentially giving the federal government control over elections conducted by mail.

In the comment letter, the attorneys general argue that this proposed rule violates the federal court’s order, which enjoins the USPS from finalizing the proposed rule for the 2026 elections, and also amounts to an unconstitutional power grab by the federal government. The Constitution does not allow the President to unilaterally impose changes to federal election procedures, particularly without an act of Congress permitting him to do so. The attorneys general also argue the proposed rule conflicts with the USPS’s governing statutes and other federal voting laws.

The proposed rule would enact these unconstitutional changes before the 2026 election. Implementing these changes would require states to upend their existing election administration procedures for upcoming elections and conduct statewide voter education mere months before the beginning of mail voting for the 2026 general election. Such drastic and rapid changes would undoubtedly create confusion, chaos, and distrust in state election systems, threatening to disenfranchise eligible voters. State and federal law entitle all eligible voters to cast ballots and have their votes counted in state and federal elections. Voters of all parties, in all states, and of every background utilize mail-in voting—including the President himself. This week’s Supreme Court decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee reaffirmed states’ authority to administer their elections, like permitting voters to cast ballots by mail.

In filing this comment letter, Attorney General Nessel was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

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