Democratic-led states renew challenge to Trump plans to restrict mail-in voting

A ‌coalition ​of Democratic-led states on Wednesday renewed their efforts to block the U.S. Postal Service from implementing President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting, seeking to prevent it from imposing new requirements before ballots go out for the November congressional ‌elections.

Democratic attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia along with Pennsylvania's governor filed the lawsuit in Boston federal court two days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an earlier injunction they had won blocking Trump's order on the grounds that they sued too soon. They had filed that earlier case before USPS ‌had finalized the rule that would implement the order the Republican president signed in March targeting mail-in ballots. USPS released a final rule on Friday, despite ‌a court order that remains in place in another case designed to stop its efforts from fulfilling Trump's plan.

USPS continues to be blocked from implementing that new rule as a result of another injunction U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued in a related case. But the Trump administration has asked her to vacate her order, saying it cannot stand based on the Supreme Court's ⁠ruling. The states' ​lawsuit takes direct aim at the ⁠new rule, which requires that states provide the agency lists of voters seeking to cast ballots by mail and imposes new federal requirements for ballot envelopes, which must now have unique barcodes.

The ⁠new rule calls for USPS to verify ballots that are mailed in, and allows the agency to refuse to deliver them if they do not comply with its standards or ​if voters are not on the states' lists. The Democratic-led states say the new requirements, if put into force, could significantly burden them in ⁠the weeks running up to the election, forcing them to buy new envelopes and equipment, establish new systems and train staff.

"This new policy will just create confusion, unnecessary costs, and unacceptable risks for voters ⁠going ​into Election Day, and my office is going to court to stop it," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. She and other state attorneys general argue USPS has no authority to establish federal eligibility requirements to vote by mail and that its rule ran afoul of federal laws ⁠protecting voters' rights and states' authority under the U.S. Constitution to administer elections.

The states, which also include California and Massachusetts, argue the rule risks disenfranchising voters. During ⁠the 2024 election, USPS processed nearly 100 ⁠million ballots. About 30% of voters nationwide cast ballots by mail, the states say. USPS did not respond to a request for comment.

Voting rights groups and arms of the Democratic Party in filings on Tuesday in separate cases said they ‌were similarly moving to block ‌USPS' rule, which they say is now ripe for adjudication.