Administrative officials in the Trump White House have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a temporary restraining order that currently prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing its revised regulations on mail-in voting. The legal maneuver comes as the midterm election cycle intensifies and disputes over ballot delivery protocols continue in federal courts.
A judge in Boston issued the injunction, halting critical components of the Postal Service’s plan. Under the proposed rule, which was introduced in August, states would be mandated to provide the USPS with lists containing the names and addresses of individuals registered for mail-in voting. Additionally, election officials would be required to affix specific barcodes to ballot envelopes. The USPS has stated it refuses to deliver ballots to jurisdictions that fail to comply with these new standards.
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Legal challengers argue that the Postal Service lacks the statutory authority to regulate the voting process, contending that the rules constitute an improper expansion of agency power. In contrast, the Trump administration maintains that the executive order issued in March, which directed the USPS to implement these changes, is necessary to prevent fraudulent voting by non-citizens. However, numerous audits and studies have indicated that such fraud is exceptionally rare.
The timeline for the midterms adds urgency to the dispute. North Carolina is scheduled to begin mailing absentee ballots this Friday, marking the official start of the voting season. Many other states will follow later in the month. Experts warn that implementing the USPS plan now could cause significant disruptions, noting that a recent whistleblower report alleges the agency has not adequately tested the online portal designed to collect voter information. The report further suggests that the new verification policies could result in ballots arriving too late or not at all for a substantial number of voters.
In August, the Supreme Court addressed a procedural aspect of one of the lawsuits but has not yet issued a ruling on the substantive legality of the executive order or the Postal Service’s associated regulations. The administration is now asking the high court to lift the block while those broader legal questions remain unresolved.
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