A federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing most of an executive order on elections against vote-by-mail states Washington and Oregon.
It is the latest blow to the administration's efforts to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and to require that all ballots be received by Election Day.
U.S. District Judge John H. Chun, a Joe Biden appointee, found that those requirements exceeded President Donald Trump's authority, following similar rulings in a Massachusetts case brought by 19 states and in a Washington, D.C., case by Democrat and civil rights groups.
"Today's ruling is a huge victory for voters in Washington and Oregon, and for the rule of law," Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said.
The executive order, issued in March, included new requirements that people provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a demand that all mail ballots be received by Election Day. It also put states' federal funding at risk if election officials didn't comply.
Officials in Oregon and Washington, which accept ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, said that could disenfranchise thousands of voters. During the 2024 general election, officials in Washington counted nearly 120,000 ballots that were received after election day but postmarked by it. Oregon officials received nearly 14,000 such ballots.
The judge found that Trump's efforts violated the separation of powers. The Constitution grants Congress and the states the authority to regulate federal elections, he noted.
Oregon and Washington said they sued separately from other states because, as exclusively vote-by-mail states, they faced particular harms from the executive order.
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