A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a Trump-directed Postal Service requirement that would exert control over mail-in ballots ahead of the midterm elections as one state is beginning mailing ballots out.Boston-based U.S.District Judge Indira Talwani, who previously blocked a related effort by Trump on mail voting, found the new U.S.
Postal Service rule dictating how mail-in ballots can be sent is likely unlawful and unconstitutional, prompting her to issue a preliminary injunction.The rushed timeframe being pushed by the administration will make voter disenfranchisement “practically inevitable” if the rule is allowed to stay in place, the judge found.The “court finds, on one side, that immediate implementation of the Final Rule issued less than seventy days before the November 2026 election threatens disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail,” while “on the other side, that the record includes no evidence relating to fraudulent mail voting to support the rushed implementation of the Final Rule,” Talwani wrote.The action comes a day after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to override a temporary order halting the rule issued by Talwani last week.In that ruling, the judge sided with states and voting rights groups who argued the Postal Service rule unlawfully usurped states’ power to regulate their own elections — and left them facing an “impossible” timeline to comply.“Through the Final Rule, the USPS is refusing to send mail ballots to eligible voters unless States or local election officials submit their mail ballot envelopes and return envelopes and receive advance approval from the USPS without regard to impending deadlines for the November 3, 2026 election,” the judge wrote.It also “requires elections officials to create accounts for a new electronic portal, certify that they have received approval regarding the mail ballot design, and thereafter upload to the USPS portal...