PHOENIX — Arizona has joined 24 other states in a lawsuit challenging a new U.S. Postal Service rule that would mean sweeping changes for Arizona voting, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Wednesday.
The Postal Service developed the rule after President Donald Trump issued an executive order on mail ballots in March. Under it, the post office would only deliver mail ballots to voters who are on a national list of eligible voters.
“This effort by the United States Postal Service and the federal government right now is a naked attempt to inject chaos and doubt into our election system right before voting starts,” Mayes said.
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Arizona counties are already finalizing ballots, which be mailed to overseas and military voters in just over three weeks.
Under the USPS rule, which was announced Friday, states would be required to register every eligible mail voter with the Postal Service, which would then compile state-specific lists. States would also be required to comply with design standards for ballot envelopes and get USPS approval.
“What I would say is, over my dead body is that rule going to go into effect,” Mayes said. “We are going to fight this tooth and nail in the courts."
She called the rule unconstitutional and said it would upend election procedures just weeks before voting starts.
“States run our elections, period – not the Postal Service and not the president,” she said.
Trump, who has voted by mail, has called for an end to most mail voting, claiming it is rife with fraud despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
Weeks away from first ballots going out
It’s not clear if the rule could be implemented in time for this year’s election.
Mayes said the states’ lawsuit argues the rule is “completely impractical” to put the provisions into place. States would need to redesign their ballot envelopes and send their voter rolls to the Postal Service, which would have to determine who is eligible for a ballot.
“First of all, that's insane,” she said. “It's unconstitutional, and it is completely physically impossible to do.”
Arizona is 42 days away from the start of early voting, and ballots go out to overseas and military voters Sept. 19.
“Arizonans have voted safely and securely by mail for decades,” Mayes said. “Republicans designed the safe and secure vote-by-mail system that easily more than three-quarters of Arizonans use.”
Arizona and other states earlier sued to block the president’s March executive order, but the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to implement the order, saying states filed their challenge too soon.
“The Supreme Court basically said, all they said was, ‘You have to file another lawsuit,’ and that is what we are doing,” Mayes said.
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