Overview
- U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols issued a preliminary injunction on Sept. 14 that bars core provisions of the USPS rule after finding the agency likely exceeded its statutory authority to impose voter‑list and portal requirements.
- The Supreme Court declined to allow the administration’s restrictions to take effect for the midterms, leaving in place an earlier injunction by Judge Indira Talwani and keeping the rule enjoined while appeals proceed.
- The rule would have required states to submit pre‑approved envelope designs, add unique barcodes to ballots, and upload names and addresses of intended mail‑voters into a federal portal that critics say is not yet operational.
- Judges and election officials warned that forcing those changes weeks before ballots are mailed could cause widespread delays or rejections, a concern echoed by a USPS whistleblower and the postal workers’ union.
- The dispute stems from a March executive order and an Aug. 21 USPS final rule and raises core legal questions about the Postal Reorganization Act, federal authority over mail, and the boundary between federal agencies and state‑run elections as litigation continues.