BOSTON — President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday targeting vote-by-mail — a system that critics have long argued is ripe for fraud, impossible to audit, and a threat to election integrity. Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell had her response ready before the ink was dry.

"Vote-by-mail is safe, and Massachusetts law is clear," Campbell wrote on Facebook. "The President does not have the authority to override states' authority on elections or interfere with your right to vote. We'll see him in court."

Three sentences. Lawsuit number fifty-something incoming.

Trump's executive order requires states to cross-check their voter rolls against federal databases before sending out mail-in ballots — an effort to ensure ballots aren't going to non-citizens, dead voters, or people who have moved. States that refuse to comply face federal consequences.

Vote-by-mail has been at the center of election integrity concerns for years. Unlike in-person voting, mail-in ballots travel through the postal system, can be handled by third parties, and are notoriously difficult to audit if problems arise. Multiple states have faced documented cases of mail-in ballot fraud, and several have tightened their absentee rules in recent years.

The EO also drew the predictable irony charge: Trump himself has voted by mail. He says he did so out of necessity as president — and notes that's precisely the kind of limited, verifiable use case the order is designed to protect, not the mass mail-in ballot systems that send ballots to every registered voter by default.

If Campbell follows through — and she always follows through — this will be lawsuit number fifty-something against the Trump administration.

Whether a federal court agrees with her on elections is a separate question entirely. The Trump administration will argue — with substantial legal support — that the federal government has a compelling interest in ensuring only eligible voters receive federal election materials.

Massachusetts allows no-excuse absentee voting and has aggressively expanded its mail-in infrastructure. It also has some of the most outdated voter rolls in the country — a fact the state has been slow to address.

If the order survives legal challenge, Massachusetts would have to clean up its rolls before the next election. Campbell, predictably, would rather sue than do that.