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

The ruling prevents a federal takeover of voter roll management and mail-in ballot distribution, ensuring that existing state-level election rules remain in effect for the 2026 midterm elections.

• •Judge Indira Talwani granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's executive order on election rules.
• •The order would have required the federal government to create a 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 upcoming November 3, 2026, midterm elections.
• •The court found that the executive branch lacks the authority to regulate elections, which is a power held by states and Congress.
• •The administration has declined to defend the constitutionality of the executive order in court.
• •The Trump administration has requested that the U.S. Supreme Court halt lower court decisions blocking the order.
• •A separate lawsuit in Washington was previously dismissed by a judge who ruled that blocking the order was premature, a decision upheld by an appeals court.
• •The executive order was issued in March after a similar legislative effort, the SAVE America Act, stalled in Congress.
• •The U.S. Postal Service had previously published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to comply with the order before it was halted.