Trump presses reshaping elections, courts block key moves

Trump presses – Facing setbacks in court and pushback from Republican leaders, President Trump is pursuing a sweeping campaign to reshape state election administration—pushing federal involvement in voter eligibility, mail-ballot access, and voting technology—while postal wor

WASHINGTON — For the third time in recent weeks, the courts have stepped in before the White House’s plans could take full effect.

President Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states run elections. leveraging federal agencies in ways no previous president has attempted. He has pushed the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of citizens in each state to help determine voter eligibility. He has sought to give the Postal Service a role in deciding who can receive mail ballots. He has threatened to withhold federal funding from states unless they phase out electronic voting machines. And he has pressured Republican lawmakers to overhaul voting laws, repeatedly claiming—without evidence—that elections are being rigged.

“It’s an unprecedented power grab to reshape how our elections work so that he and his allies can maintain and expand power,” said Eric Kashdan, director of federal advocacy at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan government ethics organization.

The White House defends the effort as fulfilling a campaign promise, saying the administration is “lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact.”

In practice, the campaign has been as much about pressure as it has been about policy. One of Trump’s defining efforts to assert some federal control over state elections has been his insistence on passing the SAVE America Act. The measure would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register. require Americans to show identification when casting a ballot. and require states to send voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump’s push has had political consequences beyond election law. He has derailed a bipartisan housing bill and threatened to forgo signing any piece of legislation unless the voting measure is approved. He says he considers the matter a “national emergency.” Even so. Senate Republican leaders maintain there is not enough support to pass the measure.

The political stakes have been laid out bluntly by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). whose chamber has approved the SAVE America Act. Last month. Johnson warned conservatives gathered at the Faith & Freedom Coalition that if Democrats win back control of the House. they will “go after the president’s family. the Cabinet. his donors. friends. ” and supporters.

“I run the protection program,” Johnson said. “I will take care of you.”

Setbacks in court have only sharpened the tension as election officials prepare for a cycle clouded by doubts about election integrity and uncertainty about how the federal government may challenge results after Election Day.

Judges have repeatedly emphasized that the Constitution assigns primary authority over elections to the states, not the federal government.

In one case, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, who was appointed by President Biden, went further. She said a federal immigration database the Department of Homeland Security was compiling to determine voter eligibility violated privacy laws. She added that the database has resulted in states actively removing U.S. citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information.

“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan wrote. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

James Percival, the general counsel for Homeland Security, said the ruling was the latest example of “how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist.”

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority also dealt a blow to the GOP this week by upholding state laws that allow for counting mail ballots that are postmarked by election day but arrive late. Trump reacted with visible anger. He said it was a “a little bit surprising” to see the court’s decision. claiming without evidence that the result will inevitably give “people more time to vote illegally.”.

Democrats viewed the ruling as a necessary check. In a statement after the decision, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) said. “While we continue to see unprecedented efforts to interfere with elections from the Trump administration. it is a relief to see federal courts make clear that these attacks on mail and absentee voting are clearly illegal and unconstitutional.”.

The White House is still eyeing changes to voting by mail. In March, Trump issued an executive order that seeks to limit who can receive mail ballots. Under the proposed rule. the Postal Service would not deliver mail ballots to states that don’t turn over sensitive voter data to the federal government. Postmaster General David Steiner told a Senate panel last month.

Democrats condemned the plan quickly. arguing the regulation is an illegal attempt to coerce states into handing over their voter rolls. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told Steiner. “Please push back on being a pawn in this authoritarian playbook. ” and said. “The Postal Service is one of the most important institutions in our country. Don’t taint it with the obsession of this one man.”.

A day after the exchange, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, nominated by President Obama, blocked those plans—at least for now. “The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections. ” the judge wrote. while adding that the Postal Service does not have the legal authority to determine who can vote by mail and how.

The White House said Wednesday that the administration remains confident the executive order will be in place by the November election.

Taken together, the administration’s efforts are unprecedented, UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said. He pointed to the constitutional framework that places control over elections with the states and gives Congress the ability to pass laws. “The president really only has authority through federal statutes that have already been passed,” Hasen said. “It’s not surprising that many courts have struck down or stopped him from doing things to try to interfere with how elections are being run.”.

The churn is landing directly on the people tasked with making voting work.

After Talwani blocked the Postal Service proposal, the legal setback offered welcome relief to the union representing postal workers. Jonathan Smith. president of the American Postal Workers Union—which represents more than 200. 000 postal workers—said. “We believe that what we’re being asked to do is in violation of the oath that we took.”.

The union called on the agency to abandon the rule, arguing it “will crush mailers’ trust in the Postal Service” and undermine “one of the most important functions the Postal Service and postal workers perform in service of the United States and its remarkable democracy.”

In several states, the union has run ads promoting mail voting as safe and a needed option for Americans. Smith said those ads were planned before Trump signed his executive order in March seeking to limit who can receive mail ballots. Now, he said, the ads are being read differently.

Smith argued the message has stayed consistent. “The ad was then and is now intended as a piece to educate America about how good vote by mail is, how much it has been working out,” he said. “It’s an educational piece, not a response to the White House.”

Ahead of the election, Smith said postal workers are waiting for clarity on how their duties may change. But he described the situation as unsettled. “But right now, he says, there isn’t much.”

In California, local election work has become a kind of contingency planning under the clock.

Orange County Registrar Bob Page said his office is monitoring any changes to existing federal and state election laws to ensure that, if changes are needed, they are implemented without disruptions. He also acknowledged the timing crunch could create hurdles closer to Election Day.

“In many ways, any change to how California voters cast their ballots made between now and election day would create a challenge and may even be disruptive,” Page said.

Counties have ordered outgoing and return ballot envelopes to stay ahead of the calendar. Page said ballots for more than 23 million California voters must be ready for the Oct. 5 mailing deadline. If the instructions for how ballots should be prepared or mailed are altered late. he said. it can become a problem quickly.

“Our office has received calls from voters asking about potential changes to vote-by-mail procedures usually tied to media coverage about proposed changes. ” Page said. “We inform these voters that our procedures have not changed because the law has not changed and that we will mail their 2026 General Election ballots by Oct. 5.”.

In Los Angeles County, officials are dealing with another burden: misinformation that travels faster than policy guidance.

Dean Logan, head of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office, said his office is fighting to contain a wave of election misinformation, including some that he said is amplified by the White House.

“It’s not something that we’ve seen happen before, and certainly not at the level we’ve seen,” Logan said.

Rather than responding to every claim. Logan said his office picks its battles. intervening only when a falsehood is likely to reach a wide audience. Even then, he said the office tries to avoid engagement with those spreading it. If the administration imposes a new rule closer to the election. Logan said his office is prepared to follow the law.

“It’s really been about finding this balance of staying alert and prepared for the possibility [of change] but also not getting sucked into the political distraction,” he said.

The pressure is not just theoretical. Last month. Trump claimed without evidence that Democrats have cheated to win California’s primary elections. and boasted about federal prosecutors in Los Angeles investigating the matter. Trump has continued to claim Democrats are trying to rig or cheat in the upcoming election—comments that have faced rebukes from members of his own party.

“I think it is ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court and the White House and we are yelling election fraud. I mean, we won all the damn elections,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told reporters last month.

At the national level, Senate Democrats have said they plan to send election observers to polling places on behalf of Congress in reaction to Trump’s efforts.

“We are not waiting for chaos to arrive,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last month. “We are preparing now.”

For postal workers and local election offices. the immediate reality is timing: deadlines for envelopes. ballot preparation. and public instructions are already moving. even as legal battles continue to determine what. if anything. the federal government will be allowed to do. In that gap—between what is planned in Washington and what courts will allow—officials say they must keep operations steady while the political narrative spins.

Times staff writer Justine McDaniel contributed to this report from Washington.

Trump elections SAVE America Act Department of Homeland Security Postal Service mail ballots electronic voting machines court rulings voter eligibility postal workers Los Angeles County Orange County