Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined 18 of her peers from across the country in a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging President Trump’s executive order which imposes “sweeping election restrictions across the country,” according to a statement from her office.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Boston, seeks to have a judge block the provisions of Trump’s order and declare them “unconstitutional and void,” arguing that the order exceeds Trump’s authority and violates the separation of powers.
Trump “has no authority to rewrite state or federal election laws by Executive Order, nor does the President have the authority to overrule Congress’s authority to regulate federal elections,” the lawsuit said.
“Elections should be free, fair and accessible,” Campbell said in the statement. “The Trump Administration’s attempt to disqualify eligible voters and throw out lawfully cast ballots is plainly unconstitutional. We will not stand by while the President tries to impose unlawful barriers to the ballot box.”
The suit names Trump, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the federal Election Assistance Commission, its chair, vice chair, and two of its members.
Campbell signed onto the lawsuit with attorneys general from four other New England states, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont. The other states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Wisconsin.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford are leading the litigation.
Imposing “extraordinarily burdensome proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration” would “disenfranchise countless eligible Massachusetts voters,” according to Campbell’s statement.
Trump’s executive order, which calls for proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration and prohibits the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots, is an “unconstitutional and antidemocratic attempt to disenfranchise voters by imposing sweeping election restrictions across the country,” the statement said.
Trump’s order also seeks to “upend state laws that establish common-sense, well-established, and constitutionally sound procedures for counting ballots — procedures that make it easier for people to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” the statement said.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin applauded the lawsuit.
“I wholeheartedly support Attorney General Campbell’s challenge to this unconstitutional attempt by the President to seize control of American elections,” Galvin said in the statement. “With this Executive Order, President Trump is seeking to disrupt our enormously successful Vote by Mail program, disenfranchise our citizens, and place incredible burdens on active duty service members who wish to cast a ballot while serving their country.”
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.