Judges Block Trump Mail Ballot Rule as Supreme Court Review Looms

Voters in multiple states face uncertainty over whether their mail ballots will be counted in the November midterms after two federal judges issued preliminary injunctions blocking a U.S. Postal Service rule that requires pre-approval of ballot envelope designs and state uploads of recipient identities to an online portal. The rule, published August 21 and derived from an earlier executive order, cannot take effect while the orders stand. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington, D.C., wrote that plaintiffs showed an increased risk that valid absentee or mail-in ballots would go uncounted without an injunction and that the public interest favored preventing that outcome. Nichols had denied a similar request in May on timing grounds. The Supreme Court is already considering the administration's appeal of a parallel order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, which the Court had allowed to lapse last month before the formal rule was issued. Mail ballots are already being distributed in Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Election officials have stated that rolling out the required changes this close to the election would be impossible. The rule's stated purpose and any prior Postal Service verification practices were not detailed in court filings reviewed by the judges.