Blocked again and again..........

Judge blocks Trump’s mail-in voting plan, again

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani paused the Trump administration’s plan to use the Postal Service to limit the delivery of ballots.

By Kyle Cheney

The Trump administration’s bid to overhaul mail-in voting ahead of the midterms is on hold once again.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled late Thursday that the administration’s plan to use the Postal Service to limit mail-in voting would impose onerous new requirements on states without enough time to implement them — potentially disenfranchising large numbers of voters.

The Massachusetts-based Obama appointee barred the Postal Service from continuing to implement its plan for at least the next two weeks, calling it “a likely unconstitutional regulation for which compliance is practically impossible as to the 2026 midterm elections, now little more than two months away.”

The Trump administration is certain to appeal Talwani’s decision. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court swept aside an earlier lawsuit aimed at blocking the Postal Service plan, concluding that it had been filed prematurely — in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump — and didn’t give the administration a chance to attempt to implement it.

But that changed last week, when the Postal Service finalized its regulation governing mail-in ballots, triggering a new wave of lawsuits aimed at stopping the plan, and giving Talwani another chance to weigh in on whether it could be implemented this year.

The lawsuits, filed by a coalition of blue-state attorneys general and voting rights organizations, contended that the effort to quickly impose new requirements for mail-in ballots would hamper states’ efforts to administer the 2026 elections.

Earlier Thursday, the administration urged Talwani to refrain from blocking the Postal Service’s plan, saying it was a key step in preventing fraud and establishing a uniform system for mail-in ballots. In her order, Talwani noted, “the record continues to lack any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting.”

“The Postal Service will not determine voter eligibility, ballot content, mailing or receipt deadlines, or ballot-counting procedures,” the Justice Department contended. “The Rule does not displace a single State election law. And it need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail.”