[REVISION HISTORY]

Supreme Court blocks Trump administration mail-in voting

Updated 98 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-23 03:26 UTC → 2026-10-02 22:24 UTC · added ~~removed~~

On September 13, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s effort to implement new mail-in voting restrictions, effectively allowing states to maintain existing ballot processes for the upcoming midterm elections. The Court declined to stay lower-court injunctions, indicating it was ‘unlikely that the administration will succeed on the merits of its challenge.’ The legal battle centered on an executive order and subsequent USPS regulations that would have required states to upload voter identities to a federal portal and mandated specific, agency-approved ballot envelope designs featuring unique barcodes. ~~Under these proposed rules, postal officials would not mail ballots unless barcodes confirmed~~ In a ~~voter had been federally cleared. A whistleblower report suggested~~ 7-2 decision, the ~~proposed system was poorly constructed and could lead to large batches of ballots being rejected due to technical errors. In~~ Court denied a ~~concurring opinion,~~ request to lift the preliminary injunction. Justice Brett Kavanaugh ~~noted~~ argued that ~~while the rules might eventually be deemed legal, implementing them at this stage would be ‘arbitrary and capricious’ because state and local~~ election officials ~~lack~~ lacked sufficient time to ~~comply. Justices~~ implement the new rules, while Justice Samuel Alito ~~and Clarence Thomas~~ dissented, ~~with Alito arguing the Postal Service possesses broad authority to regulate the mail. The decision follows legal challenges from 23 states arguing that election oversight authority belongs to the~~ suggesting opposing states ~~rather than~~ created the ~~federal government.~~ time constraints. Following the ruling, President Trump criticized the decision on Truth Social, describing the justices he appointed as ‘merely a shell of their original ~~selves’ and stating they were ‘not~~ selves.’ As the ~~people I interviewed to serve on~~ election approaches, mail-in voting faces logistical scrutiny. A study by the ~~United States Supreme Court.’ He characterized~~ Public Policy Institute of California indicated an increasing trend of mail ballots being rejected for arriving late, with 1.1% of ballots in the ~~decision as a ‘horrible, highly political ruling.’ As early in-person voting begins~~ June 2026 primary arriving after the deadline, compared to 0.3% in ~~states~~ 2024. Similar increases in late rejections were noted in Washington and Oregon, which researchers attributed to changes in USPS operations, such as ~~Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Idaho, voting rights groups and Democratic officials are launching preemptive protection campaigns~~ the elimination of certain evening mail pickups. In response, the USPS announced extraordinary measures to ~~counter potential voter intimidation and~~ ensure ~~election security.~~ delivery, including extending retail branch hours from October 4 through November 3, establishing ‘Ballot Postmark Only’ lines, and requiring mail carriers to check every delivery point for outgoing mail starting October 24.

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