Federal judge considers whether to extend ban against US Postal Service mail voting changes

Federal judge considers whether to extend ban against US Postal Service mail voting changes 1 of 3 | Delivery vans are parked during a protest staged as part of a countrywide National Day of Action Tuesday, July 28, 2026, outside the main United States Postal Service headquarters in northeast Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) 2 of 3 | Election workers sort vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office for the Florida primary election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) 3 of 3 | An election worker places a vote-by-mail ballot into a secure bin at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office during the Florida primary election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and MICHAEL CASEY Updated 12:25 PM MESZ, September 3, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit A federal judge in Boston will hear arguments Thursday on whether to extend her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service requiring states to use a new mail balloting system for the midterms as part of an executive order by President Donald Trump. The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani is considering whether to order a preliminary injunction that would bar the Postal Service from requiring the new system to be used for the midterms. Last week, she imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order to keep it from being used. That order expires next week as more states begin sending out mail ballots. Talwani has been here before. In June, she prohibited the administration from trying to implement Trump’s order for the November election, ruling the changes came too close to the election for the federal government to embark on such a project. But the Supreme Court late last month ruled that Talwani’s order was premature because the Postal Service had not yet published regulations governing how it would apply Trump’s order. The agency did so just before the high court ruling came down, prompting Democrats and voting rights groups to swiftly re-file their lawsuits. They counter that the president has no authority to set election rules, which is a power designated in the Constitution to the states and in some cases Congress. They won an initial victory with Talwani’s restraining order, which has already been appealed by the administration. It’s likely the case will again end up before the Supreme Court. Judge again bars Trump administration from implementing order that sought to limit mail voting 5 MIN READ Postal Service work to comply with Trump’s executive order is rushed and sloppy, a whistleblower contends 3 MIN READ Judge removes one hurdle for Trump mail voting order as states file new challenge before midterms 3 MIN READ Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot. Election officials say there’s simply no way they can comply with the Postal Service directives, which could require a complete overhaul of their operations. Before it delivers mail ballots for any state, the Postal Service would have to approve the design of the envelopes that contain them and have the state upload a list of voters receiving them to an online portal. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google and Terms of Service apply. Some ballots have already gone out. A few municipalities in Wisconsin opted to send mail ballots to voters earlier this week, but Friday marks the full kickoff of voting as North Carolina starts shipping its mail ballots to all voters who requested them. The administration has contended the changes are relatively minor and legal. But the portal was still not active this week, and most election offices have already printed their envelopes and ballots. A whistleblower report made public this week warns that the postal system’s requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent. The new rule requires all ballots to be physically brought to post offices before being mailed to voters, but if a single one’s bar code registers an error, the whole batch gets thrown out, even if it contains tens of thousands of legitimate ballots. MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto