A United States appeals court has declined to allow the administration of President Donald Trump to implement controversial new rules about how mail-in voting is conducted, with less than eight weeks left before the November 3 midterm elections. On Thursday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts, decided against lifting an injunction against the rules, issued by a lower court last week. The US Supreme Court is currently weighing a similar request.
At issue are a set of finalised rules released by the US Postal Service (USPS) in late August that would place new requirements on mail-in balloting. The rules direct states to redesign mail-in ballots to include unique barcodes that can be scanned, so that the federal government may track them. States would also be required to submit a list of voters slated to receive ballots by mail.
The Postal Service would retain the right to “not transmit mail-in or absentee ballots” if the mail-outs do not comply with the new standards or if the voters in question do not appear on the submitted lists. The case heard on Thursday involved a coalition of voting rights advocacy groups, including the League of Women Voters. They argued that the new rules, championed by Trump, a Republican, would effectively disenfranchise certain voters who rely on mail-in ballots.
But the Trump administration has argued that the rules are necessary to ensure election security. In asking the appeals court to lift the injunction, the US Department of Justice argued that the plaintiffs’ case appeared to be based on an unfounded premise that Postal Service intends to seize control of election administration. It emphasised that state election officials would retain full control over who is permitted to vote by mail and that the Postal Service’s role would be limited to ensuring that envelopes for the mail-in ballots comply with the “modest” new design requirements.
The appeals court, however, denied the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the injunction, citing the potential for confusion ahead of the midterm vote. It also affirmed parts of the lower-court ruling, issued by US District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama. It cited issues including that “it would be impossible for some States to reprint compliant envelopes” and that the Postal Service would face the “herculean task” of scanning “tens of millions of ballot envelopes” using a digital portal that is not yet functional.
Under the US Constitution, election administration falls to the states. But Trump has pushed for greater voting restrictions ahead of the pivotal midterms, in an effort to combat alleged election fraud. Critics, however, have framed his actions as an effort to sway the outcome.
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