A federal judge on Thursday halted attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks, just a week before the first mail ballots are due for the upcoming midterm elections. The case may soon be appealed to the Supreme Court after the justices recently allowed the administration to proceed with certain actions.
The ruling came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits in response to a recent Supreme Court decision. The high court's conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order but indicated that Talwani had acted prematurely. The administration has since issued a formal rule regarding the U.S. Postal Service's delivery of mail ballots, reigniting the legal dispute.
Nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail, and election officials have expressed concerns about the lack of time to adjust their systems to meet the new Postal Service directives. The Postal Service has stated it will not deliver mail ballots unless states provide a list of voters eligible to receive them and format the envelopes accordingly.
Judge Talwani noted that the plaintiff states lack the time and resources to redesign mail ballots, seek approval for new designs, produce ballots, update election management systems, train officials, and upload citizen data to the Postal Service portal before the midterms.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, representing one of the Democratic lawsuits, stated that the rule represents an unconstitutional interference by the federal government in elections. Democrats and voting rights advocates argue that the Constitution grants states and Congress the authority to establish election rules, not the president or the Postal Service.
This legal battle follows Trump’s previous executive order aimed at changing election procedures, which was also blocked by courts. Trump has consistently criticized mail voting, attributing his 2020 election loss to it, despite having used mail voting himself. A report by the Brookings Institution found that mail voting fraud occurred in approximately four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
Trump issued the executive order targeting mail voting in March, marking his second related to elections since returning to office. The administration initially won a case in Washington, D.C., arguing that the claims were premature, but Judge Talwani subsequently issued injunctions against the order's implementation for the November midterms in two separate cases. The Supreme Court recently struck down one of those injunctions. Talwani, nominated by President Barack Obama, reluctantly lifted the second injunction, prompting plaintiffs to refile their cases following the Postal Service's final rule publication. A hearing in the case is scheduled for September 3.