Law Forward Joins Fight Against Trump Executive Order That Threatens Wisconsin Voters

Law Forward is stepping into the ring to support ongoing legal battles against a Trump executive order that would hijack Wisconsin’s mail-in ballot process and put thousands of voters at risk of disenfranchisement. The nonprofit legal group filed an amici curiae brief in federal court in Washington, D.C., aligning with three consolidated lawsuits seeking to block the order’s implementation.

The executive order directs the U.S. Postal Service to take over key functions of mail-in ballot administration. But Wisconsin’s election system is uniquely decentralized, relying on a network of 1,850 municipal clerks, 72 county clerks, and the Wisconsin Elections Commission to manage absentee ballots in real time. Law Forward’s brief warns that handing these functions over to USPS—a chronically overburdened agency with no election expertise—would cause mail delays and jeopardize timely ballot counting.

More alarming, the order requires USPS to deliver ballots only to voters listed on a new federal “citizenship list” compiled by the Department of Homeland Security. This list would be built from federal immigration databases riddled with errors and designed for enforcement, not voter eligibility. The brief argues this is an unconstitutional federal power grab that violates the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly assigns election administration to states and Congress—not the president.

“This executive order is a recipe for mass disenfranchisement,” said Doug Poland, Law Forward’s Director of Litigation. “Using broken federal databases to decide who can vote and threatening election officials with prosecution if they make mistakes is beyond reckless. Wisconsin voters deserve better than this blatant overreach.”

The brief also highlights how the order’s requirement that voters register with USPS at least 60 days before an election contradicts Wisconsin law, which allows voter registration and absentee ballot requests up until just days before Election Day. Any ballots returned late—even if postmarked on time—would be discarded under the new system, further suppressing voter participation.

Nick Ramos, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, called the executive order “a blatant attempt to suppress voters” and emphasized the importance of Wisconsin’s decentralized election system where trusted local officials run elections in their communities.

Law Forward’s intervention underscores the high stakes of this legal fight. The outcome will determine whether Trump’s administration can impose unconstitutional barriers on voting or whether states can maintain control over their own election processes to protect voter rights.

The full brief is available here.