Federal judge blocks Trump administration executive order on mail-in voting

The ruling ensures that existing state-managed voter registration and mail-in ballot processes remain in effect for the November 3, 2026, midterm elections, preventing federal intervention in local election administration.

• •Judge Indira Talwani granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's executive order on election rules.
• •The order would have created a federal list of eligible voters and restricted the U.S. Postal Service to delivering mail ballots only to those on that list.
• •The ruling applies to the November 3, 2026, midterm elections.
• •The court found that the executive branch lacks the constitutional authority to regulate national election rules.
• •The Trump administration has requested that the U.S. Supreme Court halt lower court decisions blocking the order.
• •The League of Women Voters and other groups filed the lawsuit, arguing the order is unconstitutional.
• •The administration argued that plaintiffs lacked standing and that the lawsuit was premature under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• •A separate lawsuit in Washington was previously dismissed as premature, a decision upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
• •The SAVE America Act, a related legislative effort to mandate proof-of-citizenship, has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate.
• •Noncitizen voting is already a felony punishable by deportation.