Oregon Officials Sue After Trump Order Seeks to Limit Mail Ballot Delivery

Oregon Secretary of State (SoS) Tobias Read has aligned himself with the state’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, in opposing a Trump administration executive order that mandates the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters named on a federally approved list.

The Order is a Desperate and Illegal Power Grab Which Weaponizes the Postal Service to Restrict Voting

Read describes the order as a desperate and illegal power grab, while Rayfield says it weaponizes the Postal Service to restrict voting access.

Read’s announcement followed a statement from Rayfield yesterday that Oregon is leading a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit challenging the executive order.

Rayfield argues that the order is unconstitutional and infringes on states’ authority to conduct their own elections.

The lawsuit follows similar legal actions taken by Oregon against the Trump administration in 2025 and 2026, which have included cases about birthright citizenship and tariffs.

Also read: National Voter ID Bills Could Upend Oregon’s Vote by Mail System

The Oregon Department of Justice is Positioned as a Bulwark Against Federal Actions to Change State Laws

Rayfield has positioned Oregon’s Department of Justice as a legal bulwark against federal actions to change long-standing state laws.

In his support of the latest lawsuit, Oregon’s SoS vows to defend Oregonians’ freedom to vote from ‘illegal federal overreach’ of an ‘unconstitutional executive order.’

In a statement, Read says that as Secretary of State, it is his job to protect state elections and to ensure that every eligible vote is counted.

“This latest executive order is a desperate, clearly illegal power grab from a president who wants to make it harder for the people to hold politicians accountable.”

Oregon Must Run Elections and Not the President of the U.S.

Read says Oregon’s constitution makes it clear that the state must run elections, not the Department of Homeland Security, the Postal Service, or the president.

Thanking AG Rayfield for his collaboration with the SoS office to defend Oregon elections, Read says, ‘no matter what comes next, we will continue to defend Oregonians’ freedom to vote from illegal federal overreach.’

Oregon is the pioneer of the vote-by-mail system, introduced more than 25 years ago, and Read believes that it remains the gold standard for election integrity and access nationwide.