WEC: Trump mail-in voting order doesn’t change anything

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(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s election managers are telling local election managers not to worry about President Donald Trump’s new executive order for mail-in ballots.

The Elections Commission approved a new clarification for local election clerks that explains how to handle the order that would have the Post Office cross check mail-in ballots against a list of U.S. citizens.

“The temporary restraining order preserves the status quo. This means Wisconsin election officials are not required to comply with the new requirements of the USPS rule at this time and can proceed to issue and mail absentee ballots normally,” WEC said in its FAQ communication to clerks.

The president wants the Post Office to use a list of U.S. citizens from the Department of Homeland Security to make sure non-citizens don’t vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed the president to move forward with the order, but there are several lawsuits pending on the order itself. A federal judge has also blocked the president from moving forward.

Elections Commissioners said Wisconsin clerks can also ignore the order because of what the order wants.

"The court said that while USPS could continue to build the portal and develop these systems, no state can be compelled to use them," commissioners wrote in their communication. "Wisconsin cannot comply for several reasons. First, the USPS portal does not exist. USPS has given no indication of when or whether it will exist, and USPS has provided no training on how the portal will be used. The USPS rule is not a simple administrative change. It proposes a brand new, highly complex, untested system involving new carrier envelope design, information coded into Intelligent Mail barcodes, a USPS-run database of voter information."

The commission added that clerks “likely” don’t have to worry about the president’s order before the November election.

“While it’s possible that an appeals court could disagree with the federal judge who blocked the rule, the likelihood that any court will allow the rule to go back into effect lessens as we get closer to Election Day. This is because federal courts in particular, including the U.S. Supreme Court, are usually reluctant to change the rules for voting and procedure in close proximity to an election,” WEC explained.