Key facts
- A federal judge has placed a 14-day hold on Donald Trump's executive order limiting mail voting.
- The ruling comes just weeks before the midterm elections and before mail ballots are sent.
- The order was halted for a second time, following a Supreme Court decision that overturned an earlier block.
- Plaintiffs refiled their lawsuits after the U.S. Postal Service published its final rule on mail ballot delivery.
- Election officials argue there is insufficient time to comply with the new postal service directives before the midterms.
A federal judge has once again halted Donald Trump's executive order that aimed to limit mail voting, issuing a 14-day hold just weeks before the midterm elections. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani's decision came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits, following a Supreme Court ruling that had overturned an earlier injunction she had placed on the order.
Talwani stated in her ruling that 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." The latest ruling was issued in advance of a September 3 hearing.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump's executive order itself but stated that the legal challenges against it were filed too soon. Since then, the administration has issued a formal rule governing whether the U.S. Postal Service will deliver states' mail ballots, effectively restarting the legal battle.
This legal back-and-forth has significant implications for the midterms, as nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail. Election officials contend that there is insufficient time to revise their systems to comply with the new postal service directives. The postal service has stated it will not deliver mail ballots unless states provide a list of voters and format envelopes in a specific way, demands that Democrats and voting rights groups deem unconstitutional.
Courts had previously blocked Trump's initial executive order, issued last year, which sought to alter election procedures, including requiring proof of citizenship for registration. Trump has frequently criticized mail voting, despite using it himself, and has falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss. A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution indicated that mail voting fraud occurred in approximately four out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
Talwani, who was nominated to the bench by Barack Obama, removed a second injunction on Wednesday. The plaintiffs subsequently moved to refile their cases, citing the postal service's publication of its final rule, in hopes of securing a more lasting victory. The case is expected to return to the Supreme Court.