The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to lift a lower court injunction blocking the U.S. Postal Service from implementing rules that would restrict mail-in voting for the November midterm elections, with North Carolina set to begin mailing ballots to all requesters Friday.
The Justice Department argued the Postal Service can fully implement its published rule ahead of the election, while U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani questioned whether the government has a functioning system ready, noting she lacks documentation showing how the online portal for tracking mail ballots will operate and calling the effort an "experiment" being run on voters.
Election officials say compliance with USPS requirements would necessitate overhauling operations, including pre-approving ballot envelope designs and uploading voter lists to a portal that could reject mismatched ballots, creating logistical challenges as multiple states prepare to distribute mail-in ballots.
The Supreme Court previously lifted a block on Trump's executive order itself but did not resolve whether the Postal Service's implementation constitutes a valid exercise of presidential authority over election procedures, with states and voting rights groups contesting that election rules belong to states and Congress under the Constitution.