WASHINGTON, DC – In an exclusive interview segment with MS NOW’s Lisa Rubin, Rubin talked with Democratic AGs from California, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, and Wisconsin to discuss election protection and how the threat of ballot seizures by the Trump administration has become their biggest concern this midterm cycle.

“What keeps me up at night is the federal government seizing ballots in a closely contested election and taking custody and control of them after the ballots are cast and before they’re counted,” California AG Rob Bonta told Rubin.

“The only reason to seize ballots like that, when there are ballots that haven’t been counted, is to interfere with a free and fair election,” Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul added.

Key highlights from written segment:

• “Trump’s efforts to restrict mail-in ballots have also been a hot-button legal issue this election cycle, with many Democratic states challenging his new mail-in ballot policies in court. Many of the attorneys general said that their states are being targeted…”
• “‘…we will go to court immediately, and I’m confident we’ll have a lot of success if this happens anywhere,’” AG Josh Kaul said.
• “‘The administration and their attempts to get our voter rolls have failed everywhere they’ve tried,’ [AG William] Tong said. ‘They’re 0 and 23 in trying to get us to turn over lists of voters in red states and blue states.’”
• “‘There’s usually a clear indicator in the law as to who has authority, who doesn’t,’ [AG Rob Bonta] said. ‘In all these election cases, the states and Congress determine the time, place and manner of elections. Not the United States Postal Service, not the president.’”
• “Tong, of Connecticut, similarly characterized his state’s relationships with federal law enforcement agencies “‘as strained, and that’s why we’re here together, relying on each other as a firewall for the American people.’”
• “‘The problem is the folks in Washington, at any point in time, can get involved and pull the strings in a way that could cause there to be the undermining of our democracy rather than efforts to protect it,’ Kaul said.”
• “‘When we look back on this period of time,’ [AG Dana] Nessel said, ‘I think there’s going to be a lot of questions about, you know, why so many people just capitulated to this very, this lawless administration, and people will wonder about some of the governors, even of our own party. They’ll wonder about CEOs or the generals or the university presidents, but they’ll never have to worry about the Democratic attorneys general.’”
• “‘We have done everything that we possibly can within our power to fight back, and we’ve been winning’” Nessel concluded.

Key highlights from on air interview:

• “We have less than two months to go until Election Day and the Trump administration is trying to play a cat and mouse game with what the rules are going to be, in some cases for ballots that have already gone out to voters,” AG Kaul said. “This is incredibly irresponsible. The only reason that people haven’t called the president out, even within his own party, I think, is that people expect us to win in court. And I do too.”
• “But the fact that our president is creating this kind of potential chaos for our entire system of voting in the midterm elections is something that should be shocking to people,” AG Kaul said.
• “That kind of seizure of ballots, that’s not a legitimate law enforcement exercise under any circumstances,” AG Kaul said.
• “I truly think at this point the reason why we haven’t seen the attempt to seize tabulators or to seize ballots or receipts is because the DOJ could not get a warrant in order to seize any of those things,” AG Nessel said.

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