California is suing the U.S. Postal Service to block new restrictions on mail-in voting, a move that follows a Supreme Court ruling allowing key portions of President Trump's executive order on the matter to proceed.
The lawsuit, filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and joined by 23 other state attorneys general, seeks an emergency court order to halt the USPS rules while the case is litigated. The Supreme Court had previously lifted a lower court's injunction that had blocked the Trump administration's March 31 order, which aims to limit who can vote by mail based on claims of election fraud.
"This mail-in voting rule is an unlawful overreach that shows just how far President Trump will go to control elections," Bonta stated. "The U.S. Constitution gives states the power to regulate elections — not the President and not USPS."
The dispute began in March when President Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to create voter-eligibility lists and instructing USPS to restrict mail-ballot deliveries to voters on these new lists. USPS unveiled its new rule on August 21, requiring states to share voter information and adhere to updated ballot-envelope standards.
Opponents contend that these new USPS rules could lead to ballots being withheld if voters are not present on USPS-provided lists or if envelopes do not meet the specified requirements. California, a state where approximately 80% of voters cast ballots by mail, is now actively challenging these federal directives.
The state had previously sued over Trump's executive order in April and secured an injunction in June. However, the Supreme Court lifted that injunction, ruling that the states' initial challenge was filed prematurely, without ruling on the lawfulness of the order itself.
California's current legal action targets USPS directly, asserting that the agency is improperly interfering with states' sovereign authority to manage their own elections. This confrontation occurs as California's extensive vote-by-mail system faces increased scrutiny regarding delays, rejected ballots, and allegations of election fraud. An analysis of the June primary revealed that nearly 150,000 mail ballots in California were rejected, with over 93,000 due to late arrival. Other ballots were disqualified for issues such as signature discrepancies or duplicate voting. The pace of ballot counting has also become a contentious issue, prompting federal prosecutors to open investigations into alleged election fraud during the primary and deploying a prosecutor to observe ballot processing in Los Angeles.
