Action 235: Defend your VOTE

The following was mostly written by Annlinn Kruger and published in The Bar Harbor Story, on Substack, June 21

Background:  Knowing that Trump is in serious danger of being impeached, convicted and removed from office by a Blue Wave, his administration is working to overturn the government policies which secure our votes, using debunked claims of fraud as an excuse. (1)  We see this in Trump’s insistence on inserting the SAVE act into must-pass legislation. (See Action 233).  He’s also going after Vote by Mail and absentee voting. 

For decades, in states across the nation, Vote by Mail has proven to be a popular and secure way to vote.  About 1 in 4 Democrats choose that method, as do 1 in 5 Republicans and other party members. (2) In March, Trump signed an Executive Order demanding that states turn over their voter rolls so that his administration could create its own list of authorized voters. Only those states complying, and only Americans approved by the Trump administration, would be eligible to use Vote by Mail.  Trump’s Executive Order violates the Constitution, which gives states the authority to regulate elections. It also violates provisions of the Voting Rights Act and Privacy Act.

However (no surprise) the USPS is planning on amending its Mailing Standards to comply with the illegal Executive Order.  Such an amendment would also violate federal law. which makes USPS an independent agency and requires it to be a neutral service.

Mainers have rejected such policies before. Our Secretary of State has refused to turn over voter rolls — which contain a wide range of personal information (such as party affiliation, age etc.) that could be used by a dictator to punish citizens for whatever reason in his distorted psyche. In November 2025, by an almost 2 to 1 vote, Maine voters rejected Question 1, a Republican ballot initiative to suppress early and absentee voting, including mail in voting.

Action:  Until July 2, we can comment on the Ballot Mail for Federal Elections amendment through the Federal Register and/or through the non-partisan League of Women Voters. This is a chance to defend the vote by mail and/or absentee option which so many of us rely on.

Contacts: 

League of Women Voters
.https://www.lwv.org/take-action.

Federal Register:  Ballot Mail for Federal Elections
.https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/02/2026-10968/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections.

Urgency:  Comment by July 2

Extra Credit:

(1). Annlinn writes: “This is only a recent Republican scheme to suppress our vote. In wooing and winning disgruntled Dixiecrats (who helped morph the Party of Lincoln to MAGA) the GOP embraced and expanded Jim Crow voter suppression tactics. Such efforts are personified by voter fraud conspiracy theorist Hans Von Spakovsky — an expert in using government authority to suppress voter rights, including scrubbing eligible Americans from voter rolls and restricting mail in voting — whose contribution to Project 2025 informs the Trump administration’s specious voter fraud claims and worse policies. Including this effort to undermine the 2026 midterm elections.”

(2) https://statesunited.org/resources/americans-vote-by-mail-2024/