AG Jay Jones says he’ll sue Trump over executive order affecting federal elections

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones says he will challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order that could reshape federal elections.

Jones says the order is illegal because any changes to how states run federal elections need to come from Congress

“The President continues to overreach, to overstep, to ignore the law, to ignore commonly held tradition and custom in service of a vision that does not align with what we do here in Virginia and in this country as it relates to the rule of law,” Jones told 8News. 

Trump’s executive order would require the federal government to make a list of eligible voters who are over 18 and are U.S. citizens for states ahead of a federal election. 

Plus, it would require mail-in and absentee balloters transmitted by the United States Postal Service to be in specific envelopes, have a barcode for tracking and the postal service would only be allowed to send those types of ballots to voters enrolled in a state-specific list. 

“Our communities know how to do this, our state knows how to do this. We have safe and secure elections in Virginia and to suggest otherwise is blatantly false,” Jones said.

However, Republican Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-Colonial Heights) supports President Trump’s executive order and said he thinks Jones is only threatening to sue Trump for political reasons. 

“And it’s just common sense that we would make sure that it’s only American citizens that are voting and that the ballots that are working their way through the U.S. mail are protected and kept safe and that we are maintaining the integrity of our mail-in ballot system,” Sturtevant told 8News.