LANSING, Mich. — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing the U.S. Postal Service to change how mail-in and absentee ballots are handled, prompting a lawsuit from Democratic leaders and raising questions for Michigan voters ahead of a major election year.
WATCH BELOW: Trump signs ballot executive order
The executive order directs the USPS to create rules requiring outbound ballot envelopes to be labeled clearly as official election mail and to include trackable bar codes. It also requires the postal service to use state-specific lists to track who should receive and return mail-in ballots.
"Remember, 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.
The president quickly faced push back. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic congressional leaders filed a lawsuit, arguing the order is against the Constitution.
As of Thursday, the White House has not responded to the lawsuit.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said current absentee ballots will remain the same, and if the changes do happen, they would not take effect until November.
"It would have to go through Congress. Pass the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and then he would sign it,"Byrum said.
"Keep in mind we have a May election going on right now, we have an August election scheduled, and a November election scheduled," Byrum said.
With the issue back in the news, Michigan voters who rely on absentee voting are wondering what the process will look like in the future. Joe Carnevale spends election season down south and has been voting by mail for decades.
"It’s so much easier. We can take our time with the ballot and look at it closely," Carnevale said.
"It should be on the state level; it should not be a federal function," Carnevale said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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