BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston stated on Thursday that the U.S. Postal Service has not provided details on how it plans to regulate mail ballots for the upcoming midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani is considering whether to extend her prohibition on the proposed regulation, which is part of an executive order by former President Donald Trump. The hearing occurred one day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.
Talwani expressed concern, saying, "We are 70 days from the election and I have nothing from the USPS about how this will happen," during a session with Michael Velchik, the Justice Department lawyer representing the Postal Service.
Last week, Talwani issued a 14-day temporary restraining order to prevent the regulation from being implemented, which is set to expire next week as more states start sending out mail ballots. Velchik indicated that the administration is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court by the end of the week to seek permission to proceed with the plan.
Talwani previously prohibited the administration from implementing Trump's order for the November election in June, ruling that the changes were too close to the voting date for the federal government to undertake such a project. The Supreme Court ruled last month that Talwani's order was premature because the Postal Service had not yet published regulations on how it would apply Trump's order. The agency published these regulations just before the Supreme Court's ruling, prompting Democrats and voting rights groups to re-file their lawsuits.
These groups argue that the president lacks the authority to set election rules, a power designated to the states and Congress by the Constitution. They achieved an initial victory with Talwani's restraining order, which has already been appealed by the administration.
Trump has consistently opposed mail voting, attributing his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden to this method, despite using it himself to cast his ballot. Election officials have expressed concerns that they cannot comply with the Postal Service's directives, which may require significant changes to their operations. Before delivering mail ballots for any state, the Postal Service must approve the design of the envelopes and have the state upload a list of voters receiving them to an online portal.
Some ballots have already been sent out, with a few municipalities in Wisconsin opting to send mail ballots earlier this week. However, Friday marks the full start of voting as North Carolina begins shipping mail ballots to all voters who requested them.
The administration has argued that the changes are minor and legal, but the portal was not active this week, and most election offices have already printed their envelopes and ballots. Velchik informed Talwani that the federal government is offering states the option to participate in the system, but the Postal Service has not identified any states that have opted in.
A whistleblower report released this week warns that the postal system's requirements could result in millions of mail ballots not being sent. The new rule mandates that all ballots be physically taken to post offices before being mailed to voters, and if a single ballot's barcode registers an error, the entire batch may be discarded, even if it contains tens of thousands of valid ballots.