What voters should know about Trump’s mail-in ballot plan
Voting by mail this fall? Send your ballot early or use a drop box. Sarah D. Wire explains why mailing it on Election Day may be too late.
WASHINGTON −The Trump administration is once again asking the Supreme Court to let the U.S. Postal Service tighten the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress.
In an emergency appeal filed on Sept. 3, the administration asked the court to lift a judge’s ruling that paused President Donald Trump’s new role for the Postal Service.
That ruling came after the Supreme Court last month said a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani was premature because it came before the Postal Service had finalized rules for how it would implement President Donald Trump’s executive order.
Talwani issued the latest block a day after the Postal Service published its final rules.
Her hold on the policy is temporary and will expire on Sept. 10 unless she extends it, a move the judge is considering.
The administration told the Supreme Court that they should intervene now − despite the lack of a final decision from Talwani and before an appeals court has weighed in − because of the fast-approaching election.
North Carolina will begin mailing absentee ballots to voters on Sept. 4.
Rick Hasen, an elections expert and law professor at UCLA, called the early intervention request by the administration “highly unusual procedurally.”
Under the controversial order Trump signed in March, the Postal Service sets standards for ballot mail envelopes and states must submit lists of verified voters. The Postal Service can refuse to deliver ballots that don’t meet the new rules or bear the name of a voter who is not on a list.
A whistleblower has warned that the technology developed by the U.S. Postal Service to carry out the order could “derail the midterm elections,” saying it hasn’t been properly tested and risks “catastrophic failure” if implemented.
A Postal Service spokesperson has said the agency is “carefully reviewing” the issues raised by the whistleblower. The agency has spent months developing a “simple, secure, and efficient” mail ballot system, and the work was “conducted in a manner consistent with court orders,” the spokesperson said.
Under the Constitution, states are assigned the role of administering federal elections. But Trump has called for greater federal control since losing his 2020 reelection campaign. He’s continued to push the false claim that he lost because of widespread voter fraud.
The fight over what rules govern absentee ballots could be crucial for the 2026 midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress. Democrats can take control by flipping a handful of seats in the House and Senate.
Voting by mail has decreased since its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. But nearly 30% of voters still cast a ballot that way in the 2024 elections.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, according to the MIT Election Data & Science Lab.
Contributing: Zac Anderson