USPS publishes Trump mail ballot rules despite injunctions

Critics accused President Donald Trump’s administration of seeking federal oversight of election administration, which falls to the states under the US Constitution. They warned that USPS could gather voter information and reject ballots in states that do not comply with Trump’s demands.

Leaders of 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged the plan, and voting rights organisations filed a separate lawsuit. US District Judge Indira Talwani blocked the rules in June and issued another preliminary injunction on August 11, noting there were fewer than 90 days until the midterm races. “Where [Trump’s executive order] is presently causing confusion and threatening both increasing chaos and an erosion of trust in our democracy, the court finds that enfranchisement heavily outweighs the executive’s attempt to unconstitutionally insert itself into the domain of election regulation,” she wrote.

Trump issued the March 2026 executive order directing USPS to implement new mail-in ballot rules after returning to office for a second term in 2025. He has pursued voting restrictions based on false claims of widespread election fraud, continued to say he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election he lost, and accused California of “cheating” in primary races earlier this year. Trump has criticised mail-in voting as “rigged” and ripe for fraud, an unsubstantiated allegation, while voting by mail himself on multiple occasions, including in Florida’s August 2026 primary.

Postmaster General David Steiner defended the plan in June, saying it would help officials “match the ballots that a state believes they’re sending out to what actually gets sent out”. After the rules went online, voting rights advocate Marc Elias wrote on social media: “Late tonight, USPS caved [in] to Trump.” Control of the US Senate and House of Representatives will be on the ballot in November, with Democrats hoping to win back one or both chambers.