by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
(Worthy News) – A federal judge on Friday extended a block preventing the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing new mail-ballot requirements ordered by President Donald Trump, escalating a legal battle over election procedures less than two months before the November midterms.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction replacing a temporary restraining order imposed last month. The ruling bars USPS from making several provisions mandatory for elections held through Nov. 3, including new ballot-envelope standards, federal review of ballot-mail designs, registration with a federal ballot-mail portal, and voter enrollment in that system.
The USPS regulations followed Trump’s March executive order aimed at strengthening citizenship verification and integrity in federal elections. Under the new system, election officials would be required to submit voter information and ballot-mail data to USPS and use approved envelopes and tracking procedures before ballots could move through the mail system.
Talwani concluded that challengers had demonstrated a substantial likelihood of succeeding on their argument that the regulations intrude on election powers the Constitution assigns primarily to states and Congress. She also said imposing the requirements so close to Election Day could disrupt election administration and prevent eligible voters from receiving mail ballots.
The Trump administration is continuing to fight the ruling. It has already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to permit implementation of the regulations and told Talwani it plans to appeal her latest injunction to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court previously lifted an earlier injunction without deciding whether Trump’s underlying policy is constitutional.
The dispute now places the judiciary at the center of another major election-law confrontation just as states begin mailing ballots for an election that will determine control of Congress.
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