A federal judge on Friday (September 4, 2026) extended a ban stopping President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing a new U.S. Postal Service rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the November congressional elections.
District Judge Indira Talwani issued the injunction at the behest of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups, after one state sent out mail ballots for the elections on Friday (September 4, 2026). Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, issued a 14-day temporary restraining order to prevent USPS’ rule from being enforced while she considered whether to issue a longer-term injunction. Trump signed in March after years of the Republican president calling to restrict voting by mail and pushing the false claim that his 2020 presidential election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was the result of widespread voter fraud. All 50 States allow for some form of mail-in voting. Of those, 29 States allow voters to ask to cast ballots by mail without providing a reason, and eight conduct their elections entirely by mail. North Carolina on Friday (September 4, 2026) became the first state to mail ballots for the November elections.
Boston-based U.S. Ms. Talwani wrote. Under the rule, States must supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients, and all outbound and return ballot envelopes must bear unique barcodes. The USPS, under the rule, may refuse to deliver ballots that do not comply with the new standards or are associated with voters who do not appear on the lists. Last week, Ms. USPS issued its rule to implement an executive order Mr.
Talwani wrote that only laws passed by Congress can supersede states’ authority over elections, adding “the executive has no inherent authority” over voting rules. The immediate deadlines demanded by the Postal Service’s rule would create “chaos” for groups that provide information about how to vote, Ms. Organizations such as the League of Women Voters “do not know whether to advise their members to vote by mail, despite legal entitlement, due to the high risk of disenfranchisement,” her ruling states. “Having considered this series of hurdles for officials against the backdrop of an impending election, and mindful of the fact that any minor malfunction will result in the denial of mail ballots, the court concludes that disenfranchisement for Plaintiff Organizations’ members, regardless of residence, is practically inevitable,” she wrote, referring to the voting rights groups.
