Attorney General Mayes Blocks Trump Administration from Exerting Federal Control Over Elections
PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes today secured a victory blocking President Trump’s unlawful Executive Order that attempted to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections.
The final ruling follows a multistate lawsuit joined by Mayes and a coalition of 24 states that challenged the Administration’s attempt to restrict voting to individuals on lists pre-authorized by the federal government and voting-by-mail to lists maintained by the U.S. Postal Service.
"Millions of Independents, Republicans, and Democrats across Arizona have voted by mail for decades. In fact, nearly 80% of Arizona voters cast their ballots this way election after election," said Attorney General Mayes. "Military families vote by mail. Rural Arizonans vote by mail. Tribal members vote by mail. Donald Trump's executive order targeted all of these voters. But today, the courts affirmed what the Constitution makes clear: states run their elections, not the President. Arizona will never allow the Trump administration to seize control of our elections."
On March 31, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order purporting to develop lists of eligible voters in each state and directing the U.S. Postal Service, an independent federal agency, to develop its own such list and transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. The Executive Order also threatened states and elections officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands. In their lawsuit challenging the unlawful Executive Order, the Attorneys General argued that the Order would require states to act contrary to their own election laws, voter roll procedures, and vote-by-mail systems.
The court’s decision declares the challenged sections of the Executive Order to be unconstitutional and beyond the President’s authority, and enjoins the Defendants from implementing them with respect to the November 3, 2026, election—and any earlier federal election in the Plaintiff States. The coalition will submit a proposed judgment to the court within the next seven days.
AG Mayes was joined in filing this lawsuit, which was co-led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, by the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of Pennsylvania.