A US federal judge has blocked mail-in voting restrictions supported by President Donald Trump. Washington, DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled in favor of the civil rights group NAACP in its lawsuit against the US Postal Service (USPS).
Sullivan ruled that the rule proposed by USPS in May, requiring states to provide lists of voters who cast mail-in ballots, would violate a legal settlement reached in 2021. The settlement required the Postal Service to take "extraordinary measures" to ensure timely delivery of election mail.
The proposed rule also introduced a new envelope design for mail-in ballots, regulating logo and barcode placement. Ballots that did not comply with the rules would not be delivered. The NAACP argued that this regulation contradicted the 2021 agreement.
The ruling came less than five months before the November 3 midterm elections, which will determine the congressional majority of Trump's Republican Party. Trump had expressed concern that if Democrats took control of the legislature, he could be impeached for a third time.
The Trump administration had previously issued an executive order titled "Preserving the Integrity of American Elections" aimed at restricting mail-in voting. However, the Supreme Court dealt another blow to Trump on Monday by upholding a state law that allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after it to be counted.
Civil rights advocates welcomed the court's decision. Allison Zieve, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which represented the NAACP, said, "The court today correctly determined that USPS's plan to obstruct mail-in voting is inconsistent with its commitment to deliver election mail on time." Zieve said the USPS plan was "foolish, unlawful, and a threat to millions of voters who rely on mail-in ballots to participate in our democracy."
Sam Spital, deputy director of the Legal Defense Fund, who also joined the case on behalf of the NAACP, described the USPS proposal as "a clear attempt" to disenfranchise voters who rely on mail-in ballots. Spital stated, "Today's decision makes clear that USPS cannot ignore its legal obligation to deliver mail-in ballots to all voters on time."
