For state Rep. Sharlett Mena, the fight for voting rights is a personal one. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she remembers growing up in the majority-Latino city of Pasco and not seeing elected officials who looked like her. Pasco would eventually start to see changes in representation following a federal Voting Rights Act case, Mena said at a Friday press conference. But an executive order from President Trump could threaten such progress, the Tacoma Democrat said. “That’s what it’s intended to do,” said Mena, who chairs the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee. “It’s intended to silence voices and make people feel invisible.”
On April 4, Mena joined Attorney General Nick Brown in announcing a new lawsuit against the Trump administration. Washington has teamed up with Oregon to file the legal challenge over Trump’s executive order targeting election rules, which especially takes aim at requirements for mail-in voting and proof of citizenship.
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