A federal judge on Friday extended an order blocking implementation of the Trump mail voting order, preventing the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out changes aimed at limiting mail balloting as states begin sending out midterm ballots.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction that replaces a temporary hold she had previously granted against the Postal Service plan.
The administration has already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift Talwani’s earlier temporary order and is expected to appeal her latest ruling as well.
Time is short for altering voting procedures. North Carolina began mailing its first ballots on Friday, with more states set to follow quickly.
The outcome of the legal fight could influence this year’s elections, with control of Congress on the line. Nearly one-third of U.S. voters cast ballots by mail, and election officials say there is not enough time to retool systems to comply with the Postal Service directives.
Talwani, appointed by President Barack Obama, highlighted the compressed timeline in her decision.
“Plaintiff States are required under state law to mail millions of ballots to voters on a prescribed timeframe. As detailed below, they are unable to pivot this late in the election cycle, nearly guaranteeing significant disenfranchisement for eligible voters,” she wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The order allows states to opt in to the Postal Service’s new system voluntarily. So far, no state has said it will adopt it.
Former President Donald Trump has long sought to restrict mail voting, even as he has frequently used it himself. He has falsely tied mail voting to his 2020 defeat with unsupported claims of fraud, but he has not succeeded in changing the long-standing practice.
An earlier executive order issued last year that sought broader election rule changes, including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register, was halted by federal courts. Judges found that setting voting procedures rests with the states and, in some instances, Congress, not the president.
After Trump announced the mail voting executive order in March, Democrats and voting rights groups filed multiple lawsuits. Two landed before Talwani, who in June initially put the order on hold through November.
Supreme Court action on Trump mail voting order
Late last month the Supreme Court overturned Talwani’s initial hold. The conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s action but concluded the cases were premature because the Postal Service had not yet issued its implementation rule.
That rule was released just before the Court’s decision, and the plaintiffs refiled their challenges, leading to Talwani’s new injunction. Related debates over federal election oversight have surfaced as Democrats press DHS to restore election security funding.
Hawaiʻi voters should see no immediate change to mail ballot procedures from this ruling. Counties in the islands continue to prepare to mail ballots on their usual timelines, pending further court action.
