Appeals Court Won’t Allow Trump Admin to Implement New Rules for Mail-In Voting

A federal appeals court on Sept. 10 declined to permit the Trump administration to enforce a new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rule that changes mail-in voting requirements before the midterm congressional elections on Nov. 3.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a similar request.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit declined to pause an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. Her order halted key parts of the Postal Service’s final rule. The short-term freeze was set to expire around Sept. 10 if she had declined to extend it.

The injunction applies to the Nov. 3 elections and any federal elections that take place before then.

The injunction blocks the mandatory parts of the post office’s final rule published Aug. 26 that implements Section 3 of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14399. That provision would assign federal agencies a larger role in who receives a mailed ballot and how those ballots are processed by the USPS.

Talwani had said the postal rule could disenfranchise voters, was probably unlawful, and likely violated the U.S. Constitution, which gives states authority to run federal elections taking place within their borders.

This is a developing story and will be updated.