Federal judge temporarily blocks new mail-in voting restrictions

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - On Thursday night, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, that once again blocks the Trump administration’s mail-in voting restrictions for the November midterm elections.

Massachusetts U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued the 14-day hold on a U.S. postal service rule that had just taken effect. It would have barred the agency from sending mail-in ballots to people who are not on a federal list of voters.

“The court finds Plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that the USPS lacked authority to issue the Final Rule,” Talwani wrote.

The ruling came just days after the Supreme Court had previously allowed the administation to continue with plans to restrict mail-in voting, stemming from one of the president’s executive orders. But the justices did not rule on the legality of the order.

Prior to Talwani’s ruling, USPS said earlier on Thursday that the restrictions had taken effect.

“The new rule reassigned USPS an unprecedented and illegal gatekeeping role in the administration of mail voting,” said John Cusick, Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has been challenging the order.

Cusick said there is a risk of voter disenfranchisement if the USPS rule is implemented and believes it creates confusion.

“This is, again, another attempt intentionally to create confusion, especially when it is so clear that the president does not have the power to do this,” he said.

Voting groups and 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed lawsuits that are challenging the executive order, arguing that federal government does not have authority over federal elections.

“This attempt to inject chaos and doubt into our election system would harm the millions of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who choose to vote by mail as they exercise their constitutional right to vote,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, in a release on Wednesday. “The Constitution is crystal clear: states run their elections – not the postal service and not the President.”

Multiple election officials in different states have said their elections are proceeding as planned despite the attempts to change mail-in voting rules.

The next hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 3.