A federal judge on Thursday again blocked President Trump’s mail-in voting order, issuing a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the new U.S. Postal Service rule that implements it, as the first midterm mail ballots are expected to go out in about a week.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani halted enforcement of the formal USPS rule on how states must prepare and submit mail ballots for Postal Service acceptance. Under the rule, USPS will not accept outbound mail ballots unless states submit required recipient information through its portal and meet the rule’s envelope and barcode requirements.
The U.S. Postal Service published the formal rule after the Supreme Court issued a procedural decision allowing the administration to move forward.The high court did not rule on whether the order is legal, only that the earlier challenge came too soon. Plaintiffs then refiled after USPS published the final rule.
Talwani wrote that plaintiff states lack the time and funds before the midterms to redesign ballots, get those designs approved, produce them, update election systems, train officials on the USPS portal, and upload citizen data.
A hearing is set for Sept. 3. An appeal is expected.
