FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2025
WASHINGTON—The Executive Order signed by President Trump on March 26 would severely restrict access to the right to vote for millions of people in the U.S., in violation of the Constitution, representatives of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice noted.
“The President of the United States does not have the power to change U.S. election law. Only Congress can do that,” said Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Interim Executive Director. “This action is an illegal power grab to deny the right to vote to tens of millions of eligible U.S. citizens. Worse, this is happening while allowing Elon Musk and his DOGE teams to quietly raid state voter registration systems, further risking disenfranchisement and the credibility of our election systems.”
She added, “For people of faith, the ability of citizens to engage in the public square through participation is fundamental and sacred. All people have dignity and have both the right and the responsibility to preserve the common good through voting. This attempted overreach fundamentally threatens the fabric and vibrancy of our democracy and will be resisted.”
Min. Christian S. Watkins, NETWORK’s Democracy Reform Government Relations Advocate, said:
“This Executive Order seeks to take our country back to the Jim Crow era, when the rights of so many citizens—Black and Latino men, all women, and people with little economic power—faced many challenges, from poll taxes to literacy tests, all intended to deny them the right to vote. Power was in the hands of wealthy white men who made political decisions that severely marginalized those who could not participate. All these groups sacrificed their time, talent, and sometimes their lives for the right to vote. Passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 was the legislative capstone of this effort.
“Now, almost 60 years later and with the stroke of a pen, this Administration, with no evidence of voter fraud, used a false claim against immigrants to attempt to gut our election systems and disenfranchise millions of citizens. This is an attempt to reestablish the power of the white, wealthy few over the common good.
“The freedom to vote is a foundational American right. States have strong checks and balances in place to ensure their elections are secure and accurate. This bill and those like it are meant to divide us at a time when we are united in what we want from our government leaders: solutions to fix our broken economy and the protection of our democracy.”
Founded by Catholic Sisters in 1972, NETWORK is an inclusive, national, Catholic advocacy organization open to all who share our values, working for justice and equity for everyone. For 53 years, NETWORK has educated, organized, and lobbied for federal policies that serve the common good and honor the dignity of all people.
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