Supreme Court clears roadblock for Trump mail voting order in advance of midterms
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to move ahead with his executive order restricting mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much his administration can implement before the fast-approaching midterm elections.
The decision appears to leave room for additional court challenges that could further slow Trump’s order. And with some states beginning to send mail ballots to voters in just a few weeks, time is running short to impose major changes.
Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump, who has claimed that it breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and his own use of the voting method.
The case could be one of multiple voting-related challenges before the justices. The Justice Department had filed an emergency appeal asking the high court to allow work on implementing the changes before the midterms.
Trump’s executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and orders the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists.
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The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled new requirements for mail ballots less than two weeks before some states begin sending them, but the regulation will take effect only if the Supreme Court allows President Donald Trump’s order restricting voting by mail to go forward.
Under the new rules, states would be required to collect and report certain information to the federal government for each mail ballot sent, including the voter’s name and home address. The information would be tied to a unique barcode on every mail-in ballot.
States currently use their own methods to run mail-in voting, with no national standard for tracking that information.
The final regulation was issued Friday night, but may end up as just a footnote in the lengthy legal battle against Trump’s order, which a federal judge in Boston has frozen ahead of November’s elections.
The administration has asked the high court to lift that injunction. But a second one from the same judge would prevent the Postal Service from implementing any procedural changes before this year’s midterms and would likely need to be nullified as well.
Time is running out for the administration to make any changes to the nation’s voting procedures. The first mail ballots are required to be sent to military and overseas voters from North Carolina on Sept. 4. At that point, it would be virtually impossible for all states to alter the formatting of their mail ballots to comply with Trump’s directive. The Postal Service rule also requires states to submit voter lists in order to get their mail ballots delivered.
The Postal Service said it could not comment on its rule given the litigation.
Lawyers from Democratic-run states and civil rights groups who sued to block the order argued that Trump doesn’t have the authority to change election regulations in states. The U.S. Constitution vests that power in the states or Congress, which has been unable to pass Trump’s desired election changes.
The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court last month to let it move forward with the executive order, which calls for the federal government to compile a list of eligible voters and send mail ballots only to those on the list. The high court has not yet taken action.
