Mississippi, 8 other states, sue Biden administration for get-out-the-vote executive order
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson is suing the Biden Administration to stop an executive order requiring certain federal agencies to develop expanding voter registration strategies.
Watson, joined by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and state Attorney General Lynn Fitch, as well as others from eight states, filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Other states joined in the complaint are Montana, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs say documents related to Executive Order 14019, which designates federal agencies to develop strategies to expand voter registration efforts, have wrongfully not been made available to the public
"Those plans, however, did not go through notice and comment or any of the safeguards under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) that ensure transparency and accountability," a press release issued Tuesday night states. "In fact, efforts by watchdog organizations and others to obtain copies of those plans were stonewalled, with the U.S. Department of Justice even asserting that they should be 'properly withheld … in [their] entirety pursuant to the presidential communications privilege,' in a case brought in federal court in Florida by the Foundation for Government Accountability."
Since the executive order went into effect several years ago, Watson said his team has made repeated attempts to gather more information about what federal agency would be engaging in voter registration efforts in Mississippi and what that plan looked like. He has several times now expressed concern over the legality of that effort, and that his office, which oversees the elections process in Mississippi, has not been kept in the loop.
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“From the day this unlawful Executive Order (EO 14019) was signed, my team and I had hoped it was another Biden Administration word salad with no action," Watson said in the press release. "Unfortunately, that was not the case. In 2022, several Secretaries of State and I sent a letter to the Administration asking them to stand down. Our office has since dug in to study the EO’s implementation and sent FOIA requests to ensure we had enough facts to file suit ending this absurd EO."
Reeves and Fitch also sent out their own words on the lawsuit Tuesday evening, bashing the Biden Administration for the executive order.
"This executive order is a prime example as to why the Biden-Harris administration has been such a disaster,” Reeves said. “They’re focused on everything except doing their job, and Americans are paying the price. Federal agencies should be prioritizing their core duties, not acting as an extension of the Democratic National Committee."
"We fully support encouraging voter registration and promoting an engaged electorate,” Fitch said. “But putting the full weight of the Oval Office behind an effort first developed by partisan activist groups and then hiding the agency activities from public scrutiny goes too far. The law does not allow it. Mississippi will not stand for it. The people deserve answers, and we demand accountability here with this suit.”
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that the racial justice group, Dēmos, influenced the executive order.
As of Wednesday morning, the Biden Administration had not filed a response to the complaint or issued a statement to the public.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Biden sued by nine states over get-out-the-vote executive order
