A federal judge on Friday again blocked Donald Trump’s executive order to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting, the latest in a legal back-and-forth playing out less than two months before election day. US district court judge Indira Talwani initially placed a temporary order blocking the president’s mandate and has now extended that prohibition with a stronger preliminary injunction. The ruling comes hours after North Carolina became the first state to start sending out mail-in ballots for the 3 November midterm elections.
Talwani referred to the tight timeline in her ruling. As detailed below, they are unable to pivot this late in the election cycle, nearly guaranteeing significant disenfranchisement for eligible voters,” the judge wrote in her ruling. Trump signed an executive order in March that would create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters, compelling the US Postal Service (USPS) to work with states to establish lists of mail-in voters before elections.
The result would mean a limited ballot delivery only to voters on those lists. The Trump administration had already appealed against her temporary block to the supreme court, and it appeared the justices were likely to have a final say on the matter. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
USPS has said in recent court filings that the technology needed to administer the order isn’t even available. Earlier this week, a USPS whistleblower came forward and warned of “potentially catastrophic problems” if the agency were to try to carry out the order. After Trump signed the order, a coalition of 24 state attorneys general joined together suing USPS to challenge the rule.
They also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction as litigation was ongoing. Oral argument on the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction was held on Thursday. To date, not a single state has announced that it will do so.
Trump has long sought to limit mail voting, even though he himself often uses that method to cast his own ballot. He has falsely blamed mail balloting for his 2020 election loss, spreading baseless claims of fraud, but has so far been unable to change the longstanding voting procedure. An initial executive order Trump issued last year to change election rules, including a requirement for people to show documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, was halted by federal judges.
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