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voting rights
Backed by Platner Campaign, Maine Voters Reject GOP-Led Attack on Absentee Voting
"This victory belongs to the thousands of volunteers, many of them with our campaign, who left it all on the field to save absentee voting in Maine," said the US Senate candidate.
Nov 05, 2025
With 87% of the vote counted, around two-thirds of Mainers on Tuesday rejected a Republican-backed ballot measure that would have made it harder to vote absentee in a state where more than 370,000 people submitted such ballots last year—a win for democracy that came after US Senate candidate Graham Platner mobilized his supporters to campaign against the proposal.
The oyster farmer and harbormaster is one of multiple Democrats—including term-limited Gov. Janet Mills, who also opposed Question 1—running in the June primary to face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins next November.
In the lead-up to this year's election, Platner released an animated advertisement and held a major rally in Portland against Question 1, which would have eliminated two days of absentee voting, prohibited requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, ended ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, banned prepaid postage on absentee ballot return envelopes, limited the number of drop boxes, and required voters to show certain photo identification.
"This victory belongs to the thousands of volunteers, many of them with our campaign, who left it all on the field to save absentee voting in Maine," Platner said on social media after the results were announced late Tuesday, confirming that they worked 2,400 canvass shifts and contacted 49,000 voters.
League of Women Voters of Maine called the outcome "a win for voting rights and for Maine voters."
"Question 1 was a voter suppression bill that would have erected unnecessary barriers to voting," said Jen Lancaster, the group's communications director. "A large number of Maine voters depend on absentee voting to cast their ballot. It's important to protect this vital service and not dismantle it piece by piece."
Mills also welcomed its defeat, saying that "once again, Maine people have affirmed their faith in our free, fair, and secure elections, in this case by rejecting a direct attempt to restrict voting rights. Maine has long had one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the nation, in good part due to safe absentee voting—and Maine people tonight have said they want to keep it that way."
The governor also opposed Question 2, the "red flag" gun law approved by about two-thirds of Mainers on Tuesday. Mills said after the election that "I sincerely hope that this measure will strengthen public safety as proponents have argued. My administration will work with law enforcement and the public to implement this new law, along with our existing extreme risk protection law, to best ensure the safety of Maine people."
Platner, a US military veteran who has taught firearms courses, publicly supported Question 2 but did not campaign for or against it. The ballot measure passed after a 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston left 18 people dead, not including the shooter, whose family, friends, and Army Reserve unit all reported concerns about his mental health and access to firearms before the massacre.
"Maine voters have taken the safety of our communities into our own hands by passing commonsense, responsible gun legislation that will save lives and help keep our kids and families safe, not just from the horrors of a tragedy like Lewiston, but from the devastating impacts of everyday gun violence," Nacole Palmer of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition said in a statement after the vote. "Despite years of opposition from the gun lobby and the politicians they back, we've shown that our movement for commonsense, responsible gun ownership is stronger."
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With Baseless Fraud Claim, White House Says Trump Preparing Anti-Voter Executive Order
Asked to provide evidence supporting her claim of voting fraud in California, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, "It's just a fact."
Nov 04, 2025
President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order aimed at rolling back voting rights, a measure that may include attacks on mailed ballots, a top administration official said Tuesday.
"The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we've seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“Like any executive order, of course, any executive order the president signs is within his full executive authority and within the confines of the law," she added.
Asked by a reporter what is her evidence of electoral fraud in California, Leavitt replied without evidence that "it's just a fact."
LEAVITT: It's absolutely true that there's fraud in California's electionsQ: What's the evidence of that?LEAVITT: It's just a fact
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 4, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Leavitt's remarks came hours after Trump baselessly attacked California’s vote-by-mail system in a post on his Truth Social network.
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump alleged without evidence. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”
Trump has previously vowed to ban mail-in ballots, a move legal experts say would be unconstitutional.
The White House's announcement also came as Americans voted in several high-stakes elections, including California's Proposition 50 retaliatory redistricting proposal; the New York City mayoral race between progressive Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa; gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia; and a crowded contest for Minneapolis mayor highlighted by democratic socialist state Sen. Omar Fateh's (D-62) bid to unseat third-term Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey.
The announcement also followed a federal judge's permanent blocking of part of Trump’s executive order requiring proof of US citizenship on federal voter registration forms.
Democracy defenders have repudiated Trump's attacks on mailed ballots and claims of voter fraud—a longtime right-wing bugaboo unsupported by facts on the ground.
"Voting by mail as permitted by the laws of your state is legal," ACLU Voting Rights Project director Sophia Lin Lakin says in a statement on the group's website about Trump's order from March.
"In his sweeping executive order, Trump tried to bully states into not counting ballots properly received after Election Day under state law by threatening to withhold federal funding," she continues. "A federal court has temporarily blocked this part of the executive order."
"Trump’s effort to target mail-in voting is a blatant overreach, intruding on states’ constitutional authority to set the rules for elections," Lin Lakin adds. "It threatens to disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible voters and would no doubt disproportionately impact historically excluded communities, including voters of color, naturalized citizens, people with disabilities, and the elderly, by pushing unnecessary barriers to the fundamental right to vote."
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Judge Blocks Trump From Requiring Proof of Citizenship on Federal Voting Form
"Trump’s attempt to impose a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form is an unconstitutional power grab," said one plaintiff in the case.
Oct 31, 2025
A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked part of President Donald Trump's executive order requiring proof of US citizenship on federal voter registration forms, a ruling hailed by one plaintiff in the case as "a clear victory for our democracy."
Siding with Democratic and civil liberties groups that sued the administration over Trump's March edict mandating a US passport, REAL ID-compliant document, military identification, or similar proof in order to register to vote in federal elections, Senior US District Judge for the District of Columbia Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found the directive to be an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.
“Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the states and to Congress, this court holds that the president lacks the authority to direct such changes," Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in her 81-page ruling.
"The Constitution addresses two types of power over federal elections: First, the power to determine who is qualified to vote, and second, the power to regulate federal election procedures," she continued. "In both spheres, the Constitution vests authority first in the states. In matters of election procedures, the Constitution assigns Congress the power to preempt State regulations."
"By contrast," Kollar-Kotelly added, "the Constitution assigns no direct role to the president in either domain."
This is the second time Kollar-Kotelly has ruled against Trump's proof-of-citizenship order. In April, she issued a temporary injunction blocking key portions of the directive.
"The president doesn't have the authority to change election procedures just because he wants to."
"The court upheld what we've long known: The president doesn't have the authority to change election procedures just because he wants to," the ACLU said on social media.
Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU, a plaintiff in the case, welcomed the decision as “a clear victory for our democracy."
"President Trump’s attempt to impose a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form is an unconstitutional power grab," she added.
Campaign Legal Center president Trevor Potter said in a statement: "This federal court ruling reaffirms that no president has the authority to control our election systems and processes. The Constitution gives the states and Congress—not the president—the responsibility and authority to regulate our elections."
"We are glad that this core principle of separation of powers has been upheld and celebrate this decision, which will ensure that the president cannot singlehandedly impose barriers on voter registration that would prevent millions of Americans from making their voices heard in our elections," Potter added.
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