A federal judge on Thursday again blocked President Donald Trump’s crackdown on mail-in ballots, in an order that came down shortly after the U.S. Postal Service said the new requirements were in effect following a protracted legal battle.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s ruling is likely to be appealed by the Trump administration, further delaying implementation of an executive order that, if allowed to move forward, would have profound implications for this year’s midterm elections. Under Trump’s order, the Postal Service would compare ballots sent through the mail to a list of eligible voters created by the federal government.
In her ruling Thursday, Talwani said plaintiff states faced a prohibitively short timeline to follow through with the rule’s demands and blocked it for at least 14 days. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 3.
“Plaintiff States have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal, and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms,” Talwani wrote.
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Trump signed an executive order in March that sought to redefine the federal government’s role in the election process. Nearly two dozen states and the District of Columbia swiftly sued, arguing the order was a violation of their constitutional rights to administer elections.
Talwani, an Obama appointee, blocked parts of Trump’s order in two separate cases filed in Boston earlier this summer. But the Supreme Court halted Talwani’s injunction on Monday, finding that she had acted too soon because federal agencies had not yet implemented the executive order.
The Supreme Court’s order did not decide whether Trump’s policy mandates were lawful, but it did provide a temporary win for the president’s administration.
The Postal Service acknowledged Thursday there was “pending litigation” on the final rule and would continue to provide updates “as necessary.”
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