Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement.
Governor Tate Reeves, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and Secretary of State Michael Watson filed a complaint on behalf of the State of Mississippi challenging an illegal Executive Order directing an all-of-government voter registration effort by federal agencies and led by the White House.
“This executive order is a prime example as to why the Biden-Harris administration has been such a disaster,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “They’re focused on everything except doing their job, and Americans are paying the price. Federal agencies should be prioritizing their core duties, not acting as an extension of the Democratic National Committee. It really goes to show just how far the Biden-Harris administration will go to expand their power, and it’s why Mississippi will continue pushing back when they violate the law."
“We fully support encouraging voter registration and promoting an engaged electorate,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “But putting the full weight of the Oval Office behind an effort first developed by partisan activist groups and then hiding the agency activities from public scrutiny goes too far. The law does not allow it. Mississippi will not stand for it. The people deserve answers, and we demand accountability here with this suit.”
“From the day this unlawful Executive Order (EO 14019) was signed, my team and I had hoped it was another Biden Administration word salad with no action. Unfortunately, that was not the case. In 2022, several Secretaries of State and I sent a letter to the Administration asking them to stand down. Our office has since dug in to study the EO’s implementation and sent FOIA requests to ensure we had enough facts to file suit ending this absurd EO. Thankfully, this day has come! We look forward to continuing to push as hard as we can to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for illicit means,” said Secretary of State Michael Watson.
Executive Order 14019 mobilized federal agencies to develop strategies to expand voter registration efforts and to submit their strategic plans to the White House within 200 days. Those plans, however, did not go through notice and comment or any of the safeguards under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) that ensure transparency and accountability.
In fact, efforts by watchdog organizations and others to obtain copies of those plans were stonewalled, with the U.S. Department of Justice even asserting that they should be “properly withheld … in [their] entirety pursuant to the presidential communications privilege,” in a case brought in federal court in Florida by the Foundation for Government Accountability. Secretary Watson, who filed Freedom of Information Act requests with several federal agencies, was told on a call between Secretaries of State and the White House that those plans were never intended to be public.
The complaint filed today by Mississippi and 8 other States notes, “the partisan infection is so severe as to render EO 14019, and the agency decisions stemming from it, the product of pretext. That is, rather than ensure ‘that registering to vote and the act of voting be made simple and easy for all those eligible to do so,’ or promoting or defending ‘the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections,’ … the purpose is to promote left-wing politicians and policies at elections. If there are ‘contrived reasons’ instead of ‘genuine justifications for important decisions,’ agency action must be set aside.” (citing Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 588 U.S. 752, 785 (2019)).
The complaint, which can be read here, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. In addition to Mississippi, the complaint was joined by Montana, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota.
Governor Reeves, Attorney General Fitch, and Secretary Watson are the three members of the State Board of Election Commissioners and work together to enforce Mississippi’s election laws. The Secretary of State, as Chief Election Official, administers electoral procedures as well.
24 comments:
What’s wrong with posting information about registering to vote. It’s just another general information piece. You would think that people would be exposed to it across all political parties.
So Fitch filed a “me too” at the behest of Trump…..in Kansas…..zzzzzzz
How about doing something that's actually going to help Mississippians instead of filing a pointless lawsuit? Funny how they never filed one for any of the illegal EOs Trump signed while in office. I guess they are going to use this for justification of the non-existent voter fraud.
Its a shame that neither SOS Watson (who's realm this resides in) or AG Fitch (who it seems would be responsible for filing an action) didn't act quicker, but we are now only able to join on others and the action is in the 10th Circuit rather than in the 5th.
And it seems from SOS Watson's statement, he's 'been on this' now for two years, but nothing has been done until now - all the registrations availble to the US Government agencies are probably well into the books by now. Thanks guys - yall are really taking care of your areas of responsibility.
Has anyone noticed how fat Sweet Tater's fingers are getting? Wouldn't hurt him to miss a meal or two.
every Mississippi election from 1876 until 1964 was fraudulent and the elections since 1964 have only improved due to the federal government.
That's all you've got? Back up and get somebody to read the opening post to ya. Concentrate. Be informed. You'll feel refreshed.
You definitely don’t want the wrong kind of people voting.
@6:50AM you are correct. That’s how you get clowns like Lumumba and Benny T in positions of power where they grift and exploit their own for personal gain. One could easily argue that Ross Barnett was a far more positive and benevolent leader for communities of color than this generation of “black for a living” charlatans.
On March 19, 2024 the ATF Feds raids and kills a conservative never convicted of any crime much less a violent one when they could have easily just met him at his $260k city job he went to almost every business day.
On July 13, 2024 the Secret Service Feds give a would be assassin of a former President every opportunity possible to kill Republican Trump, a man Democrats have vowed to destroy (no possible chance any would be assassin with a rifle could have ever gotten less than 150 yards from Biden, Obama, etc.).
Once Democrats realize their freely elected in the primary by the people candidate for President could not win, they launch a coup that forced Joe Biden to resign on July 24, 2024, then installed Kamala Harris, that, according to NBC News, dropped out (of the 2020 presidential campaign) in December 2020 before a single vote had been cast (threat to democracy?).
Seemingly oblivious to the First Amendment which allows his occupation to exist, just last Monday a Washington Post propagandist literally, in public, asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre what the Biden-Harris administration could do to block former President Donald Trump from being heard by the voting public that night on X with Elon Musk.
These are just a few very recent events and the list could go on but no need since incredibly shocking events like these, that should have every American shaking with fear like the idiot Germans that let Hitler take over should have been, these events just end up blips on the radar with the mostly leftist controlled media sweeping them under the rug.
So, what chance does a “complaint” like this have in making any difference at all in the grand scheme of things when Republicans aren’t even smart enough to drive home the much more important events currently having no effect at all on the mostly idiot consumerism Americans only concerned with their next vacation or Amazon purchase?
@7:37 even though I might agree with much of what you say, try using a period (.) sometime. Your paragraphs are runonnnn sentences disconnecting from your intent.
Izzat you, Tony Yarber?
Another political stunt. Waste of time. Typical.
This is no stunt. This matters much more than you can imagine. Loading the voter rolls with voters who likely never vote is how they cheat.
The executive order states: "Agencies shall consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process." So tate and maga are afraid of people registering to vote? The order does not prevent conservatives from registering too. It's just another example of tate, fitch, and watson posturing in hopes of running for a higher office one day.
8:30 It is a separation of power law! It is illegal in all states and the State of MS and any state agencies. Signing criminals and or illegals to vote in any state is wrong and illegal in Most. I pray we in MS have lots of Poll Watchers in Hinds, Washington and counties throughout the state November 5, 2024! After seeing it with my own eyes as a worker and watcher, I know for a fact that fraud goes on! I saw and heard in Bolton, MS white voters were asked “What is your Religion?” Intimidation yes, also NAACP signs posted right outside the door, along with people walking in the door 20 feet from sign in desk, a person turned the book around saying sign here before verifying or asking who they were. The worker was telling the voter who to register as. This was before Voter ID which came out shortly after!
Since when is an executive order subject to notice and comment, which is for agency regulations?
If you can’t beat them, stop them from voting. That’s the Republicans definition of a democracy.
If you can’t beat them with the candidate freely elected in the primary by the people, launch a coup to force out the candidate that can’t win and install a DEI’er that dropped out of the presidential campaign before a single vote had been cast. That’s the Democrats definition of democracy.
What a bunch of whining crybabies this GOP is. Grow a pair and stop whining.
One man's socialism is another's neighborliness. Does this not worry anyone?
There is zero evidence that any so-called “cheating” (voter registration) has ever changed the results of a modern day, state-wide election in MS. That claim continues to be spread by racists who believe minorities should not be allowed to vote.
Link to the claim, or it didn't happen.
Tate needs to fire the person who wrote this press release. I'm sympathetic with the writer being given an exercise in stupidity but still...
At FYI to 7:37 am :The ATF was fired upon and the person killed when they returned fire. They were executing a legal search warrant based on the probable cause evidence that the " victim" has been supplementing his income by being an unlicensed gun dealer. The agent who fired the bullet was not charged for good reason.
Some of you need to check your sources for bias and credibility and try to understand the issue at hand before spouting party propaganda ... that includes Lynn Fitch and Tate Reeves latest "follow the leader" posts.
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