A U.S. federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on Thursday (August 27, 2026) curbing the use of mail-in ballots, the latest twist in a legal dispute months before November’s midterm elections.
Local media reported that the Trump administration would likely appeal the ruling. Democratic-led states sued the administration on the grounds that under the U.S. Constitution, states – and not the federal government – retain broad control over the administration of elections. Polls show that Trump’s Republican Party faces a serious threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in the November midterms, particularly in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber.
The President has for years claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is highly vulnerable to fraud, repeatedly linking it to his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him by Democrat Joe Biden. The judge said in Thursday’s ruling that “the record continues to lack any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting”.
