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USPS mail-in limits blocked
A federal judge halted the U.S. Postal Service’s proposed changes to mail-in ballot delivery procedures, blocking a plan tied to President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict mail-in voting.
“prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail”
District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with the NAACP, finding the proposal violated a December 2021 settlement agreement that required USPS to “prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail” through the 2028 elections.
The proposed rule would have required states to compile a list of eligible voters at least 60 days before any federal election and would have directed USPS to refuse to deliver mail-in or absentee ballots to anyone not on those lists.
The decision came as a second defeat for the Trump administration on the issue, following a Boston-based federal judge’s June 25 ruling that the executive order infringed on states’ constitutional authority to regulate election administration.
NAACP senior associate general counsel Anthony Ashton said in a Wednesday statement that “The proposed USPS changes would have created unnecessary and unlawful barriers” in violation of USPS’s mandate.
Sullivan’s reasoning and NAACP
Sullivan, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton, ordered the USPS enjoined from implementing its proposed rule nationwide, writing that Trump’s executive order was “designed to exert federal control over who in the United States may be sent a mail-in or absentee ballot” by the Postal Service.
The proposed rule outlined how each state and USPS would agree on a “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List,” and how mail-in ballots should be packaged, with USPS refusing to deliver ballots if states did not participate.
Postmaster General David Steiner confirmed last week the service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to hand over sensitive voter data to the Trump administration, telling lawmakers it was meant to ensure the “right ballots are going to the right people.”
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the ruling was “another major blow to Donald Trump’s attempt to rig the election,” while Democracy Docket reported the injunction covered the entire nation rather than only the 23 Democratic-led states that sued in Massachusetts.
Allison Zieve, the director of Public Citizen Litigation Group, said the court recognized USPS’s plan to create roadblocks was “inconsistent with its commitment to timely deliver election mail.”
What’s at stake next
The ruling comes less than five months before the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control over both chambers of Congress.
“to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail”
Al Jazeera reported that the case turns on a May Postal Service proposal requiring states to provide lists of absentee and mail-in voters, with ballots that do not conform to the list returned and failure to comply resulting in USPS refusing to deliver the ballots.
Sullivan’s Wednesday decision enforced the 2021 settlement’s requirement that the Postal Service agreed “to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail,” and he granted the NAACP’s motion to enforce compliance with the settlement.
The Guardian said the decision bars USPS from enforcing Trump’s March executive order nationwide, and it described the plan as requiring states to give the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies access to lists of voters and to adopt new balloting procedures before USPS would make deliveries.
Sam Spital, the associate director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, called the Postal Service’s proposed plan “a blatant attempt” to disenfranchise voters who rely on mailed ballots.
