'It won't change the Constitution': Gov. Josh Shapiro reacts to Trump's mail-in voting restrictions

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order cracking down on mail-in voting by tasking the federal agencies through the U.S. Postal Service to determine who receives a mail-in ballot. The move, reminiscent of the SAVE America Act, was criticized by Democrats who claimed it would disenfranchise eligible American voters ahead of the midterm election in November. Several leaders, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, swiftly pushed back against the order, vowing to protect the voters' rights and the Constitution. 

The executive order is the latest attempt of the Trump administration to shape how elections are run in the U.S. It comes in addition to the SAVE America Act, which, if passed, will require new citizenship verification measures to register to vote. While Trump has championed the legislation, it has floundered in the Senate, and other such measures have faced pushback from courts as well. However, the President falsely maintains that voter fraud is rampant in the country and such measures are paramount to fair elections. "It's about voter integrity, we want to have honest voting in our country because if you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have really a nation," Trump said after signing the order in the Oval Office, CNN reported. 

However, Democratic leaders have strongly pushed back against the order, threatening that they won't let the president alter the Constitution. "President Trump can sign whatever the hell he wants to, but it won’t change the Constitution," Shapiro, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X. Shapiro argues that the authority to set the election rules sits with the states, and he won't let Trump change that. "As Governor, I will protect your right to vote. That includes your right to vote by mail," he concluded. 

Trump's latest order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work in tandem with the Social Security Administration to create a list of eligible voters in each state, which will be called "The State Citizenship List". The list compiled from various government records, including citizenship and naturalization and the SSA, will be shared with the U.S. Postal Service, which will then send the mail-in or absentee ballots only to the approved voters, and those not on the list won't get an option to vote by mail.  

Experts and Democrats argued that the president likely lacks the power to make such a move and that the order violates the Constitution as it would remove the authority of states to run elections. Some Democratic state officials threatened lawsuits to block the order from influencing the upcoming midterm elections.

In his statement, Kris Mayes, the Democratic attorney general of Arizona, a state where 80% voters opt for mail-in ballots, declared that his team will use every legal tool available to defend the state's constitutional right to run its own elections. "Donald Trump is attempting to pick his desired list of voters in each state with the Social Security Administration’s help. We will not let this stand," Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes added in his post on X.