A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing its new requirements for mail voting for the November midterm elections, a move triggered by a legal challenge from President Trump’s administration. The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, follows a Supreme Court ruling halting a different Trump-led attempt to restrict mail voting. The legal battle centers on the Postal Service’s new rules, published last week, which regulate mail voting for federal elections, and a coalition of voting rights groups challenging the rules.
The judge, in her 11-page order, stated that the Postal Service’s rules are likely unconstitutional, citing the Constitution’s guarantee of states’ rights in election administration. The order, lasting 14 days, will halt enforcement of key provisions, determining which party controls the House and Senate. The states and voting rights groups argue that Congress has not delegated authority to the Postal Service to set election mail rules. The ruling specifically addresses the Postal Service’s final rule establishing design requirements for mail ballot envelopes, including trackable barcodes and online portal listings, which will determine which parties control the House and Senate.
The states, including North Carolina, are required to send ballots to military and overseas voters by Sept. 4, and several other states will begin making them available in mid-September. The Postal Service maintains that the rules only impose minor informational requirements on states sending federal mail ballots, and that states retain control over election administration. The Justice Department is likely to appeal the decision, and the challenge could lead to a Supreme Court hearing. The dispute arose from an executive order signed in March by President Trump that sought to restrict mail voting, though he has not provided evidence of fraud. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile ‘State Citizenship Lists’ of U.S. citizens eligible to vote and instructs the attorney general to prioritize investigations against election officials. The Postal Service rolled out its new rules with the November midterms quickly approaching, leaving states with little time to implement them. The states warned in their lawsuit that election officials had to accomplish multiple Herculean tasks, each necessary to address the disruption caused by the rule, in a matter of weeks, with limited resources.
The judge further noted that the rule is a regulation of the U.S. mail, and a modest one, and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail, according to the Justice Department’s argument. The ruling is expected to be appealed, and the challenge could potentially land before the Supreme Court. The Court’s conservative majority sided with the Trump administration in the earlier case, but the ruling didn’t rule on the merits of the mail-in ballot restrictions. The Postal Service is rushing to implement the rule, and the 14-day pause will frustrate efforts by states to administer their mail voting programs in November and potentially disenfranchise voters. The Judge wrote that this regulation is not a federal takeover of election administration by the Postal Service.”
This case is a significant development as it directly impacts the timing and implementation of the midterm elections, with states now facing a critical deadline to comply with the Postal Service’s new rules.
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Source: CBS News
