Court rejects administration's bid to enforce mail ballot rules

A United States appeals court has declined to allow the administration of President Donald Trump to implement controversial new rules about how mail-in voting is conducted, with less than eight weeks left before the November 3 midterm elections.

On Thursday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts, decided against lifting an injunction against the rules, issued by a lower court last week. The US Supreme Court is currently weighing a similar request.

At issue are a set of finalized rules released by the US Postal Service (USPS) in late August that would place new requirements on mail-in balloting. The rules direct states to redesign mail-in ballots to include unique barcodes that can be scanned, so that the federal government may track them. Under the rules, state and local election officials must input voters qualified to vote by mail or absentee into a USPS-run database. The Postal Service would have been able to reject ballots that did not meet the new requirements or were linked to voters whose names did not appear on the state-provided lists.

Under the proposed rules, state and county election officials across the nation would be required to enroll each voter with a unique bar code and submit this data to a new online portal that, as of last week, was not yet functioning.

The case involved a coalition of voting rights advocacy groups, including the League of Women Voters. The plaintiffs argued that the rules would disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities and low-income individuals, and that the Postal Service lacked the authority to impose such requirements.

The USPS rules contained three key provisions. First, states must design their ballots to include unique barcodes that can be scanned. Second, state and local election officials must input voters qualified to vote by mail or absentee into a USPS-run database. Third, the Postal Service would be able to reject ballots that did not meet the new requirements or were linked to voters whose names did not appear on the state-provided lists.

Procedural history

The Trump administration had asked the Supreme Court to suspend Judge Talwani's ruling, but on Monday, a majority of the court declined to do so. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier declined to block Judge Talwani's ruling on August 26 in light of the Supreme Court's decision in the other case.

The USPS officially published its new rules for mail ballots on August 14. The rules were adopted at the Republican president's direction.

Reactions from officials

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, condemned the administration's effort. "The president's attempt to block voting by mail is a failed power grab and an attempt to take away our freedom to choose how to vote," she said. Benson also said: "States run elections — not the federal government, not the postal service, and not [the president]."

Benson's office encourages mailing ballots at least two weeks before Election Day. In Michigan, voters can return their absentee ballot at an early voting site and insert it into the tabulator. Voters can check if their application or ballot has been received on the Michigan Secretary of State website.

Context: mail-in voting in the United States

All 50 US states permit some form of mail voting. In 29 states, voters can request a mail ballot without providing a reason, while eight states conduct elections entirely by mail. Several states, including North Carolina, have already begun sending mail-in ballots to voters.

President Trump has repeatedly made false claims of widespread fraud in US elections. He has also falsely claimed that the United States is the only country that has mail-in voting. Trump voted by mail in Florida's Republican primary earlier this year.

Supreme Court's involvement

The Supreme Court declined to suspend Judge Talwani's ruling on Monday. The court's decision came with Justice Brett Kavanaugh's reasoning cited as a factor in the concurrence.

Congress may impose new rules, but it is not done to limit voting by mail or to empower the postal service to do so.