BILLINGS— The Supreme Court ruled Monday against President Trump’s executive order to change the way mail-in ballots are processed, a decision some local activists say they support.
The proposed changes would have required the Department of Homeland Security to create and send citizen lists to each state, where the states would provide these lists to the United States Postal Service (USPS). USPS would then only mail ballots to the citizens on those lists.
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The executive order states, “The Federal Government has an unavoidable duty under Article II of the Constitution of the United States to enforce Federal law, which includes preventing violations of Federal criminal law and maintaining public confidence in election outcomes. To enhance election integrity via the United States Mail, additional measures are necessary.”
Related: Trump slams the Supreme Court for rejecting his push to restrict mail ballots
Mindy Nielsen, former USPS worker and member of the American Postal Workers Union, told MTN she agrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“Voting should be the thing that we're very secure about,” she said.
Nielsen was one of the dozens of people who protested the executive order outside the downtown Billings post office in June.
“The national government shouldn't be having anything to do with it. It's a state issue,” she added.
Tristen Belgarde with Western Native Voice stood outside 105 Brewing Tuesday to help people register to vote for National Voter Registration Day. He agrees with Nielsen.
“There's already a lot of a lot of barriers,” said Belgarde. “When it comes to mail-in, we (have) already experienced a lot of that in the state of Montana with the county elections office.”
Belgarde was one of several volunteers who stood outside businesses such as 105 Brewing, Harbor Freight and Dillard’s Tuesday to help people register for the Nov. 3 midterm election.
“You can get registered to vote through organizations like Forward Montana, Western Native Voice, the National League of Women Voters up until Oct. 5,” said Morgan Syring with Forward Montana.
Oct. 5 is the state’s general mail voter registration deadline. Up to that date, several activist organizations are assisting people in filling out the voter registration forms, which volunteers bring to the county election office.
“It's the little things that we as a community can do to help each other, especially with paperwork,” said Syring.
