9 More Republican-Led States Sue Biden Over 2021 Voter Registration Order
An executive order issued over three years ago by President Joe Biden to promote voter registration is still drawing rebuke from GOP-led states in court.
In a federal complaint filed Tuesday by Republican attorneys general, the states of Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota are challenging Executive Order 14019 on the grounds that it’s unconstitutional. They’re asking the federal district court to block the order’s enforcement.
The order issued in March of 2021 expands access to voting and accurate election information in multiple ways, including allowing federal agencies to share data with states that seek to establish automatic voter registration efforts and making federal workers and resources available at polling locations.
Tuesday’s filing comes after Pennsylvania Republicans, Ohio’s secretary of state and other conservatives brought cases against the order, essentially arguing that Biden exceeded his authority.
The order directs federal agencies and departments to “consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” The lawsuit says Biden did not cite a federal law authorizing him to use federal agencies to engage in voter registration drives.
It also claims the order “emerges from left-wing advocacy groups.”
The group of attorneys general says the order harms states’ sovereign right to regulate voter registration and the electoral process, which the U.S. Constitution reserves to the states with few exceptions.
The federal government is expected to file a response or a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in the coming weeks.