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 ‌had still been in place designed to stop its efforts from fulfilling Trump's plan.

USPS until Wednesday had been 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 brought by voting rights groups. But at the Trump administration's request, Talwani vacated her order shortly after the states sued, saying it cannot stand following the Supreme Court's ⁠ruling despite "what ​chaos may be unleashed as litigation is pending."

The ⁠states in their new case have now asked Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, to re-block implementation of USPS' 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 requests 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.