Trump Administration Appeals USPS Mail Rules to Supreme Court

North Carolina began mailing ballots Friday for midterm elections that will decide congressional control for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term, even as the administration asked the Supreme Court to lift a lower-court block on new U.S. Postal Service requirements for those ballots. The rules, drawn from a March executive order, include barcode tracking, voter-list checks, and other steps the administration says will prevent noncitizens from voting. Democratic state officials and voting-rights groups argue the changes arrived too late in the cycle and risk rejecting valid ballots.

The administration’s Thursday filing contends that regulating the mail itself is constitutional and that states cannot exempt election mail from Postal Service authority once they choose to use it. A federal district judge had issued a temporary restraining order; the Supreme Court had already vacated one earlier injunction in the same dispute. North Carolina election officials, including the Republican-led State Board of Elections, said they submitted envelopes for review and received approval while withholding voter data pending further litigation.

Election administrators in Mecklenburg and Wake counties reported processing thousands of absentee requests and preparing mailings that include ballots, instructions, and photo-ID information. They told voters the process remains available and urged early return of ballots. A whistleblower cited in congressional testimony warned that an untested Postal Service portal could produce errors leading to millions of rejections; the Postal Service declined to comment on pending litigation.

Separately, Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., introduced the Ballots by Election Day Act, which would require federal mail ballots to arrive by the close of polls. Florida counted roughly 85 percent of its 3.3 million primary ballots in 45 minutes under a similar deadline. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia currently accept postmarked ballots after Election Day. The bill’s prospects remain uncertain, as Senate Democrats have blocked the related SAVE America Act.

In California’s June primary, nearly 150,000 mail ballots went uncounted, largely because of late postmarks after the Postal Service shifted processing to regional hubs. Washington state reported a 32 percent rise in rejected primary ballots this August compared with two years earlier. Officials in both states advised voters to request hand-stamped postmarks at local post offices. The League of Women Voters of North Carolina issued parallel guidance against waiting until the final days.

The Supreme Court’s earlier 5-4 decision in Watson v. RNC upheld Mississippi’s five-day grace period, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett writing for the majority that election-day statutes do not address receipt deadlines. Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent, joined by three colleagues, warned that late ballots create opportunities for fraud and undermine public confidence. No data on actual fraud rates tied to grace periods appear in either the administration’s filing or the opposing court papers reviewed so far.