Federal Judge Halts USPS Mail Voting Rules Ahead of Midterms
POLICY WIRE — Washington, USA — A federal judge has issued a temporary halt on the U.S. Postal Service’s new mail voting requirements for the November midterm elections. U.S. District Judge...
POLICY WIRE — Washington, USA — A federal judge has issued a temporary halt on the U.S. Postal Service’s new mail voting requirements for the November midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s order marks the latest development in the ongoing legal dispute over President Trump’s attempts to tighten mail voting rules before the November elections.
This legal battle intensified following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to halt a ruling that had previously blocked the Trump administration from implementing parts of an executive order aimed at restricting mail voting.
In response, a coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia, along with voting rights groups, filed a lawsuit against the Postal Service’s new rule, which was issued in response to Trump’s executive order.
The plaintiffs argue that Congress has not granted the Postal Service the authority to set rules for federal elections or mail voting, asserting that the Constitution empowers states to administer elections.
Judge Talwani agreed to suspend enforcement of several key provisions of the Postal Service’s rule for 14 days, stating that the plaintiff states face irreparable harm due to the requirement to comply with a likely unconstitutional regulation.
She noted that most plaintiff states have already ordered their mail ballots, with some required by state law to send them to eligible voters as early as next week.
Talwani emphasized that the states lack the time and resources to redesign mail ballots, obtain approval, order production, update election management systems, train officials, and upload citizen data to the USPS portal before the midterms.
The judge concluded that Congress did not delegate authority to the Postal Service to regulate election mail and found that the states are likely to succeed in their arguments that the agency lacked authority to issue the rule, which she deemed likely unconstitutional.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal the decision, potentially leading the challenge to the new mail voting restrictions to the Supreme Court.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the 24 attorneys general involved in the lawsuit, criticized the new regulations, calling them a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control.
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The dispute stems from an executive order signed by President Trump in March, which sought to restrict mail voting, a method the president frequently claims leads to widespread fraud without providing evidence to support his claims.
The Postal Service’s final rule establishes design requirements for mail ballot envelopes, including trackable barcodes, and mandates state election officials to submit lists of intended mail-ballot recipients to an online portal.
The agency clarified that it will not determine voter eligibility, maintain voter rolls, or count ballots.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling involved a separate lawsuit filed by 23 Democratic-led states seeking to block Trump’s executive order. The high court sided with the Trump administration on procedural grounds but did not rule on the merits of the mail-in ballot restrictions.
The Postal Service introduced its new requirements with the November midterms fast approaching, leaving states with limited time to implement them. North Carolina will start sending mail ballots to military and overseas voters on September 4, with several other states beginning distribution in mid-September.
State officials warned that the measure would force them to accomplish multiple complex tasks in a matter of weeks, with limited resources, potentially disenfranchising voters who vote by mail.
Justice Department lawyers argued that the rule imposes only modest informational requirements on states and localities sending federal mail ballots and that states retain control over the administration of their elections.
They cautioned that if the rule were temporarily blocked and then allowed to take effect before the November midterms, states and the Postal Service would face even greater urgency to implement it.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)