Trump’s Mail Voting Order Gets Blocked Again Just as Midterm Ballotxs Are Set to Go Out: ‘Likely Unlawful’
The mail voting fight is back in court
President Donald Trump’s push to change the rules around mail-in voting has run into fresh legal trouble as the 2026 midterms approach. The order has already worked its way through multiple courts, leaving election officials facing new federal requirements as they prepare for the election.
The timing matters because states are already preparing to send ballots to voters. AP reported that the first mail ballots are due to be sent out in about a week, leaving election officials with little time to make changes to their systems and prepare the required ballot materials.
The Supreme Court recently allowed the administration to move forward with the order on procedural grounds. The justices did not rule on whether Trump’s executive order itself was lawful, finding instead that an earlier challenge had been brought too soon.
The mail voting fight is back in court
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani again blocked the administration from putting Trump’s executive order into effect, this time for two weeks. The ruling came after Democrats and voting rights groups refilled their lawsuits following the Supreme Court’s decision and the administration’s issuance of a formal rule explaining how the Postal Service would implement the order.
That rule would require states to provide lists of voters who should receive mail ballots and follow specific formatting requirements for ballot envelopes. Election officials have said they do not have enough time to redesign ballots, obtain the necessary approvals, update election-management systems, train staff and upload voter information before the midterms.
Talwani wrote that the states “have neither time nor funds” to make the changes before the elections. She also found that the rule was “likely unlawful” under the Constitution, according to Reuters. A hearing is scheduled for September 3, and the administration is expected to appeal the ruling, potentially sending the dispute back to the Supreme Court.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the Democratic attorneys general challenging the rule, said the federal government was attempting to interfere with elections over which it lacks authority. Democrats and voting rights groups argue that the Constitution gives states, and in some circumstances Congress, authority over election rules rather than the president or the Postal Service.
Trump signed the executive order in March, and opponents challenged it in court shortly afterward. The administration initially argued that those lawsuits were premature because the Postal Service had not yet issued the rules needed to implement the order, but the publication of those rules has now opened a new round of litigation.
Talwani’s two-week block remains in effect for now, with the September 3 hearing set to determine whether the administration can proceed with the mail-voting changes. The dispute could ultimately return to the Supreme Court as states move closer to sending out midterm ballots.
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