A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump has blocked his administration from implementing new restrictions on mail-in voting weeks before the 2026 midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols issued a preliminary injunction late Sunday preventing the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing regulations announced Aug. 21.
“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming elections,” Nichols wrote.
“The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen,” he added.
The decision marks the second time this month that a federal judge has blocked the regulations as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a separate challenge involving the same policy.
The regulations stem from an executive order Trump signed earlier this year directing the Postal Service to adopt new procedures governing the handling of mail ballots.
Under the rule, states would be required to provide the Postal Service with lists identifying voters eligible to receive mail ballots.
States would also have to place unique barcodes on outgoing and returned ballot envelopes. Election officials would be required to obtain Postal Service approval for their envelope designs.
The rule could allow the agency to refuse to deliver ballots to voters whose names do not appear on the submitted eligibility lists or to voters in states that fail to follow the requirements.
Nichols determined that portions of the regulation likely exceeded the authority Congress granted the Postal Service.
“No statute grants the Postal Service the power to issue key parts of the rule,” Nichols wrote, according to Reuters.
The Democratic Party sought the injunction, arguing that the Constitution gives states primary responsibility for conducting elections, subject to congressional oversight.
“Congress has enacted nothing to empower USPS or the President to interfere with States’ decisions about who should receive a mail ballot or how mail-ballot envelopes should be designed,” Democratic attorneys argued.
Justice Department lawyers rejected claims that the agency was attempting to assume control over state elections.
“The rule does not displace a single state election law,” the administration argued. “And it need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail.”
Nichols previously declined to block Trump’s executive order in May, finding that the challenge had been brought prematurely because the Postal Service had not finalized its regulations.
The Supreme Court used similar reasoning when it lifted an earlier order issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. The Postal Service subsequently published its final rule, allowing opponents to renew their lawsuits.
Talwani issued another injunction Sept. 4 after Democratic-led states and voting-rights organizations challenged the finalized regulations.
A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined Thursday to suspend Talwani’s decision while the administration pursued its appeal.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow the regulations to take effect. The justices have not announced when they will decide the emergency request.
Timing has become a central issue because mail ballots are already being distributed in Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Additional states are scheduled to begin mailing ballots this week.
Election officials have argued that creating new envelope designs, securing federal approval and uploading voter information to an unfinished online portal would be difficult before the Nov. 3 elections.
A whistleblower report sent to Congress warned that the changes could prevent millions of otherwise eligible ballots from being counted, according to the Associated Press.
The union representing Postal Service employees has also opposed the regulations, arguing that postal workers should not be responsible for determining voter eligibility.
All 50 states permit some form of mail voting. Twenty-nine allow voters to request mail ballots without providing a specific reason, while eight predominantly conduct their elections by mail.
Nichols’ injunction keeps the existing system in place while the litigation continues, but the Supreme Court could still permit the administration’s rule to take effect before the midterms.
