Rep. Lynch Introduces Legislation to Protect Mail-in Voting Against Unlawful Trump Interference
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08) introduced the Vote by Mail Protection Act (H.R. 8666) to protect the right of Americans to vote by mail against unlawful executive overreach by President Trump. This legislation will invalidate the executive order recently issued by President Trump that would severely restrict mail-in voting. The bill will also prohibit the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies from using taxpayer funds to implement the order.
After casting a mail-in ballot himself in a Florida special election in March, President Trump promptly issued Executive Order 14399 to prevent other Americans from also voting by mail. In violation of constitutional provisions that clearly vest the sole power to regulate federal elections in the individual states, the order transfers control over voting eligibility and mail-in voting regulations to the Executive Branch. It also forces the non-partisan, independent United States Postal Service to exceed its traditional public service mission by directing the agency to determine which mail-in votes will be counted and refuse the delivery of any ballot cast by otherwise eligible voters if they are not named on newly created federal voter lists.
“While President Trump continues to propagate false claims about “the mail-in ballot hoax” and how “elections can never be honest with mail-in ballots/voting,” his unlawful executive order will actually undermine election integrity by disenfranchising senior citizens, veterans, overseas service members, disabled voters, and other American citizens who rely on mail-in voting to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” said Congressman Lynch. “The Vote by Mail Protection Act will invalidate this latest illegal action by President Trump to rewrite election rules for political purposes and ensure that eligible Americans can cast their ballots by mail - just like he regularly does,” added Congressman Lynch.
As a member of the House Democratic Litigation Task Force, Congressman Lynch is also working with fellow Members of Congress to challenge the executive order in federal court on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and will disenfranchise senior citizens, veterans, overseas service members, and other eligible voters. He is supporting litigation brought by state officials, civil rights organizations, pro-democracy advocates, and other voting rights stakeholders who have filed suit to block the executive order. Congressman Lynch supported previous litigation, which challenged a 2025 Trump executive order that similarly sought to change state election procedures, leading a federal judge to permanently invalidate key sections and find that the “President has no relevant constitutional power on which to rely.”
The Vote by Mail Protection Act is endorsed by Public Citizen, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the National Association of Postal Supervisors.
Original cosponsors of the Vote by Mail Protection Act include Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Robert Garcia (CA), Congressional Postal Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Nikki Budzinski (IL) and Chris Pappas (NH), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), and Rep. James Walkinshaw (VA).
Read the text of the Vote by Mail Protection Act here.
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