WASHINGTON, DC – In interviews for the Legal AF podcast, part of the MeidasTouch Network, host Michael Popok spoke with several Democratic AGs about how they are actively fighting back against the Trump administration’s attempts to disenfranchise millions of voters, like the recent efforts to restrict mail-in voting and obtain voter roll data. Democratic AGs are in the courtrooms fiercely defending the right to vote – winning – and thwarting Trump’s plan to meddle in the midterm elections.

“As we get closer to the election, looking at all the ways, all the different approaches the administration can resort to interfere with the elections […] We’re ready for all of them,” California AG Rob Bonta said. “And we think that’s what we owe our constituents. So, we’re ready to go into court. We have theories of the case, we have briefs, we have legal arguments, we have factual presentations.”

Key highlights from part one:

• “The most important is that this proposed rule by the United States Postal Service is illegal,” AG Bonta said. “The United States Postal Service, the president in the executive branch, they have zero authority over determining the time, place, and manner of elections. That is reserved by the US Constitution to the states and to a degree to Congress. It’s also not something that can be implemented.”
• “We are winning these cases in the courts each and every time, where states have challenged the ability of the federal government to obtain personal private confidential information of our voters,” AG Nessel said.
• “As we get closer to the election, looking at all the ways, all the different approaches the administration can resort to to interfere with the elections and whether it’s individuals with guns, Marines, ICE, military at or near polling stations, whether it’s interference with the United States postal system, whether it’s trying to seize ballots through civil or criminal means […] we’re ready for all of them,” AG Bonta said. “We think that’s what we owe our constituents, so we’re ready to go into court. We have theories of the case; we have briefs, we have legal arguments, we have factual presentations.”
• “People had faith in [elections], they trusted it,” AG Nessel said. “Now. Trump has spent now six years sowing the seeds of distrust. And in a way, we can pass all the laws that we want, that we’re able to in our respective states. But it’s really just the fundamental mistrust in our in our system of voting that that really has I think done the most damage to our democracy. So, a lot of our job it’s not just enforcing state and federal law but also it’s ensuring that we’re communicating with the voters in our state so that they have the information they need and it’s not just whatever is flying around on social media that may actually be coming from our foreign adversaries.”

Key highlights from part two:

• “So, we are fighting on multiple fronts, opposing the executive order that you just mentioned, working with our secretaries of states and local officials to make sure that they are prepared because it is all hands-on deck now,” AG Nick Brown said. “Ballots start to come out in most of our states very soon because the election is just on the precipice. And so we have to be prepared for the greatest threat to our election, which is Donald Trump and his administration.”
• “And what the Trump administration is doing right now is not about trying to have accurate and fair elections, it’s about rigging the election. It’s about power,” AG Dan Rayfield said. “It’s about retaining power And what can they do before election day to manipulate the votes that get counted”
• “The number one issue that’s on people’s mind is the ability to cast their vote, to have their voice be heard,” said AG Rayfield. “Right now you have so many people looking out for folks that I think we feel fairly confident that we’re prepared for all the different eventualities that could come our way.”
• “I think we are doing everything possible to make this a normal and successful election,” AG Brown said. “But it is going to take more than hope. It’s going to take our action. And it’s going to take the community and the people refusing to be intimidated by this fascist in the White House and stand up and make sure their voices are heard.”

Key highlights from part three:

• “I think that what they’re trying to do is to create enough confusion so that they can challenge various elections around the country so that they can just keep this thing in turmoil,” AG Keith Ellison said. “I think that’s really what their end goal is. But I think that’s why people have got to vote early. People have got to make sure that we have overwhelming numbers […] People are showing up and we’re asking them to show up big.”
• “What I want to stress here is we need people to come out and vote because as democratic attorneys general we are holding this democracy together along with a lot of other people who have promoted democracy in what they do,” AG Aaron Frey said. “So we’re going to keep holding the line so that folks can come out and vote and have their voice heard. But we have to keep in mind that there are some folks who don’t want us to do that because the result does not benefit them.”
• “We have all of the confidence not only in our processes and our people, but in the folks who are going to be, you know, administering these elections because they’ve done it time and time again,” AG Jay Jones said. “It’s been safe, it’s been fair, it’s been free, we’ve had no issues, and, you know, we’re going to make sure that that continues after, after this election.”
• “[Voting] is not a partisan issue,” AG Kwame Raoul said. “There’s bipartisan concern for it, certainly within our state. And, and it baffles me why Republican attorneys general would be would take the opposite side of it.”

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