Why Trump’s vote-by-mail ban threatens Asian American political power

President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to ban vote-by-mail through executive order have drawn sharp constitutional challenges from civil rights organizations, even as the promised order has...

The Rebel Yellow - Issue #130

President Donald Trump’s push to ban vote-by-mail has raised constitutional concerns and warnings from civil rights advocates who say it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly in immigrant and Asian American communities. Also in this issue: Sen. Tammy Duckworth leads opposition to Trump’s National Guard deployments in Chicago, a federal court strikes down his order restricting birthright citizenship, and a Chinese national dies in ICE custody. Plus, a Hawaiian activist detained after an Israeli raid on Gaza aid boats, and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi wins the Nobel Prize for medicine.

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Why Trump’s vote-by-mail ban threatens Asian American political power

John C. Yang

President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to ban vote-by-mail through executive order have drawn sharp constitutional challenges from civil rights organizations, even as the promised order has yet to materialize. These threats, which followed his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month — and false claims about international voting practices — represent what advocates say is a coordinated attack on voting access that would disproportionately harm immigrant communities and voters of color.

In an exclusive interview with The Rebel Yellow, John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, lays out the constitutional challenges any such executive action would face.

Constitutional authority under fire

Constitutional authority for federal election laws, Yang explains, lies with Congress and the individual states. “The president has no authority to dictate how states run their elections,” he says. While no formal executive order has been issued, Advancing Justice – AAJC, which has long advocated for voting rights, remains on high alert. Yang vows to “use all the tools available to us to counter attacks on voting by mail including education and outreach to our communities, advocacy and litigation.”

This challenge rests on solid constitutional ground. The constitutional framework clearly delineates election authority, with states controlling the “times, places, and manner” of elections as outlined in the Constitution. At present, 28 states allow no-excuse mail voting, and eight states plus Washington D.C. automatically send ballots to all voters by mail, a system that would be upended by Trump’s proposed ban. His claim that states are “merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government” contradicts established constitutional law and decades of legal precedent.

The stakes are particularly high for Asian American communities, who have come to rely heavily on mail-in voting. According to the 2024 Asian American Voter Survey, nearly half of Asian American voters prefer voting by mail or dropping their ballot off. “Many children of immigrants have had the experience of walking our parents through forms and paperwork. Ballots are no different — and so voting by mail gives first-time voters or those with limited English proficiency extra time to review their ballot materials or seek language assistance,” Yang notes.

This reliance on mail-in voting makes the threatened ban especially concerning for newly naturalized citizens and first-time voters who need additional time and support to navigate the electoral process. It endangers the community’s constitutional right to vote at a time when their electoral power has seen rapid growth.

Read the full story here.

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Duckworth leads pushback against National Guard deployment in Chicago

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is leading aggressive congressional opposition to President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, characterizing the move as a dangerous misuse of military power that violates constitutional principles.