Judge blocks Trump-backed USPS mail-voting rules before November elections

A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing core parts of a new rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the November congressional elections. The rule was adopted at the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a temporary restraining order at the request of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups. This followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that had lifted earlier injunctions blocking Trump's plans to restrict mail-in voting. The decision prompted a swift legal challenge from dozens of Democratic state attorneys general and voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters, seeking to prevent the USPS from enforcing the rule that took effect Wednesday.

The restraining order will remain in place while Talwani considers whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, plans to hold a hearing on September 3. Under the rule, states would have been required to supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients. All outbound and return ballot envelopes would have needed unique barcodes. The USPS could then refuse to deliver ballots that did not comply with these standards or were associated with voters not on the lists.

In her ruling, Talwani stated the rule risked preventing citizens from casting mail ballots unless states secured the Postal Service's approval for envelopes and uploaded voter information into an electronic portal. The judge found no evidence of fraudulent mail-in voting to necessitate such a rule, which she deemed likely unlawful and adopted in violation of the U.S. Constitution's grant of election authority to states. "USPS's interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote," she wrote.

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USPS's interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote.