Hobbs, Brown say Washington will keep fighting federal mail voting rules

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs says the state isn’t backing down after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the federal government to move closer to enforcing new rules for mail-in voting.

The court Monday put on hold one of two injunctions that had blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with new mail-in voting requirements ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

The justices did not rule on the merits or constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s actions. Instead, the court said the states’ injunction was premature because the final rule had not yet been published.

“The Office of the Secretary of State remains committed to defending Washington’s constitutional authority to administer our elections,” Hobbs said. “These actions are an unconstitutional intrusion into state-run elections, and we will continue to fight them.”

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, whose office is part of the multistate lawsuit challenging the administration’s order, also said the Supreme Court’s decision does not resolve the underlying constitutional fight.

“A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court does not seem to recognize the grave threat the president’s actions pose for our democracy. There is nothing hypothetical about his intent to illegally suppress legitimate votes,” Brown said.

“Fortunately, today’s decision does not bless the substance of the president’s actions, it simply says states must wait slightly longer to challenge them. We stand ready to take action to protect the integrity of our elections and prevent this clearly unconstitutional overreach from taking effect.”

“States control elections, not the president.”

The U.S. Postal Service is expected to publish its final rule Wednesday. The full text is already available for public review.

For now, a separate injunction remains in place and prevents USPS from implementing the rule for the Nov. 3 election—less than three months away. If that injunction is lifted, the rule would take effect immediately.

Hobbs says the new requirements would create significant additional work for county election offices and the Secretary of State’s Office just weeks before ballots are mailed.

“These last-minute requirements would place significant burdens on state and county election officials at a time when our resources are already strained,” Hobbs said. “Our focus should be on administering a secure, accurate, and accessible election for Washington voters, not implementing unnecessary federal requirements just weeks before ballots are mailed. We will continue to fight these unconstitutional actions to ensure that elections in Washington are free and fair.”