Today I joined 14 other Secretaries of State to yet again push back on the Biden Administration’s continued gross federal overreach. A jointly signed letter has been sent to President Biden requesting he rescind Executive Order (EO) 14019, which calls for federal agencies to act beyond their Congressionally-specified functions and infiltrate state-run elections.

Biden’s EO directs federal agencies to develop plans to register voters at the state level and to share these plans with the President without first consulting the states.

Our letter cites a lack of Constitutional authority for an EO to direct federal agencies to operate services beyond functions authorized by Congress. It also states that the EO duplicates voter registration efforts already conducted at the state level and ignores procedures outlined in state laws and constitutions.
Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) include any such grant of executive authority to the President to require federal agency involvement with state-level voter registration processes. Any actions to reconfigure states’ voter registration duties and responsibilities must be authorized by Congress or the states themselves.

Please join me in our efforts to push back on this administration’s continued overreach by contacting your U.S. Senators and Representatives.

MICHAEL WATSON
Secretary of State
State of Mississippi
 

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ABOUT SECRETARY OF STATE MICHAEL WATSON
 
CONTACT:

Elizabeth Holbert Jonson

press@sos.ms.gov