Attorney General Mayes Issues Statement on Trump Executive Order on Mail-in Voting

PHOENIX — Attorney General Kris Mayes issued the following statement on Donald Trump's unlawful executive order signed today on mail-in voting:

President Trump can sign all the executive orders he wants. It won't change the United States Constitution. States run their elections, not the President of the United States, not the Department of Homeland Security. That is not a political opinion. It is bedrock constitutional law, and federal court after federal court has said exactly that in striking down this administration's previous attempts to seize control of American elections. 

In Arizona, over 80 percent of voters choose to vote by mail. That system was built by Republicans, passed by a Republican-controlled legislature, and has been used safely and securely for decades. Even Donald Trump himself voted by mail earlier this month. The President is not trying to improve election security, he is trying to control who gets to vote. That is not his decision to make.

We will use every legal tool available to defend Arizona's elections, Arizona's voters, and Arizona's constitutional right to run its own elections.