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🇴🇲 Oman /Crime & Justice

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow sweeping changes to mail ballots

From Times of Oman · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News From a news agency In the courts
  • The Justice Department has filed an emergency appeal asking the US Supreme Court to allow new federal rules for election-related mail.
  • The rules would require states to submit lists of eligible mail voters and would place individual bar codes on election-mail envelopes.
  • Voting groups and 23 Democratic-led states argue that the administration and Postal Service lack authority to control which mail ballots reach voters, while officials warn of disruption before the election.

The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to clear the way for major changes to mail-ballot handling less than two months before the November midterm elections.

The rule thus plainly does not seize control of states’ administration of elections.

· Trump administrationThe administration told the Supreme Court that the proposed Postal Service rule would not take over state election administration.

The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal on Thursday, asking the court to intervene while lower courts consider a broader challenge to President Donald Trump’s March executive order. The order gave federal agencies a greater role in election-related matters.

Under the proposed Postal Service rules, states would submit lists of eligible mail voters through an online portal before ballots were mailed. The Postal Service would then refuse delivery if a voter’s name did not appear on the list. Election-mail envelopes would also carry unique bar codes for individual voters.

It simply imposes reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail.

· Trump administrationThe administration characterized the rule as a limited postal measure.

Voter advocacy groups and a coalition of 23 Democratic-led states have challenged the order in federal court. They argue that neither the president nor the Postal Service should decide which mail ballots are delivered to voters. The administration describes the changes as limited postal requirements, calling them “only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements” within the Postal Service’s authority.

Only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements.

· Trump administrationThe administration described the scope of the proposed regulations.

Election officials have warned that introducing a new system only weeks before voting could disrupt existing procedures and create problems delivering ballots. North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending its mail ballots on Friday. The Justice Department says court intervention is needed to address what it calls the risk of voter fraud, arguing that a lower court order has “partially nullifie[d] the Postal Service’s efforts to address the risk that the federal mails will be used to perpetrate voter fraud.”

Partially nullifies the Postal Service’s efforts to address the risk that the federal mails will be used to perpetrate voter fraud, a particularly pernicious species of fraud that dilutes the votes of lawful voters.

· US Justice DepartmentThe department argued that a lower court order blocking the rule interfered with efforts to prevent voter fraud.
About this summary

Originally published by Times of Oman in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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