The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday unblocking President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail voting is prompting a lot of questions in Colorado, where the vast majority of ballots cast by voters were mailed to them.
We have answers.
What does the Supreme Court’s decision change about Colorado’s mail-in voting process?
As of now, nothing.
“At this point, nothing has changed,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat who is the state’s top elections official. “That is because we’re very likely to see further litigation on this on the executive order.”
The Supreme Court ruled that Democratic states like Colorado were too early when they launched their legal challenges to the executive order earlier this year because its directives, specifically those for the U.S. Postal Service, hadn’t taken effect yet.
The court didn’t rule on the merits of the legal challenges to the order, which in June prompted a lower court judge to halt Trump’s mandate.
The Postal Service’s changes aimed at complying with Trump’s order — which prohibits the USPS from sending ballots to voters in states that don’t comply with his mail-ballot mandates — are set to take effect this week. But even then, a second court order, stemming from a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters, remains in place barring them from being implemented.
Additionally, the Democratic states that originally challenged Trump’s order are expected to renew their legal attack once the USPS changes take effect, which could once again lead to a court order halting Trump’s executive action.
“The Supreme Court may have dodged the merits of the federal government’s actions today, but those claims will have their day in court,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, said in a written statement Monday.
On Wednesday, Weiser made good on his promise by joining dozens of other states in suing, one again, to block the executive order as it pertains to the USPS.
The Supreme Court’s ruling does, however, let the Trump administration begin working on other parts of Trump’s executive order on mail voting.
“The Department of Homeland Security can pull together its list of who they think citizens are to send to the states, and the DOJ can prioritize prosecution of election officials who fail to go along with the executive order,” Griswold said. “But the big part of the executive order, which is actually the Postal Service part, is still enjoined.”
When might it have an effect?
If Trump’s executive order is eventually allowed to take full effect, it’s unclear exactly how that would impact Colorado.
“I can’t fully answer that question,” Griswold said.
Election Day is a little over two months away, and county clerks in Colorado are already preparing to mail ballots to military and overseas voters. In early October, everyone else will be mailed ballots.
If the legal challenges aren’t settled soon, there simply may not be enough time for the executive order to be carried out, Griswold said.
Trump’s order requires states to format their ballots in certain ways, including with trackable barcodes, and to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security on a national list of eligible voters.
If court directives blocking Trump’s executive order aren’t fully lifted before ballots are sent out, and ballots aren’t formatted the way the president wants, then it may not matter.
“I do think it’s too late,” she said.
What is the state doing about it?
“We’ll be in a better spot potentially to talk about that later in the week,” Griswold said Tuesday.
Griswold said her office is working with Weiser’s office to review the USPS’ rules.
The legislature this year, expecting Trump to try to change the nation’s voting system, also gave Griswold’s office and Colorado’s governor emergency powers to quickly respond should they need to.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.