A federal judge has temporarily halted President Donald Trump's executive order that sought to restrict mail-in voting, blocking its implementation for at least 14 days. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani occurred just about a week before the first mail ballots are scheduled to be sent out for the upcoming midterm elections.
This marks the second time Talwani has placed a hold on the directive. The Supreme Court had previously overturned an earlier ruling by the same judge that had initially blocked the order. The high court's decision, however, did not rule on the legality of the executive order itself, but rather stated that the legal challenges against it were filed too soon.
Following the Supreme Court's ruling, Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits, prompting the administration to issue a formal rule governing how the U.S. Postal Service will handle mail ballots. This move has effectively restarted the legal battle.
Talwani cited time and funding constraints in her ruling, stating that "Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms."
This legal back-and-forth has significant implications for the midterms, as nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail. Election officials have argued that there is insufficient time to adapt their systems to comply with the new Postal Service directives.
The Postal Service's requirements state that it will not deliver mail ballots unless states provide a list of eligible voters and format the envelopes in a specific manner. Voting rights advocates and Democrats contend that these demands are unconstitutional, arguing that the Constitution grants states and Congress, not the president or the Postal Service, the authority to set election rules.
These arguments were previously used to block Trump's first executive order on election procedures, which was issued last year and sought changes such as requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Trump has frequently criticized mail voting, which he has falsely blamed for his 2020 election loss, despite also using it to cast his own ballot. A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found that instances of mail voting fraud were exceedingly rare, occurring in approximately four cases out of every 10 million ballots cast.
Trump issued the executive order targeting mail voting, his second related to election procedures since leaving office, in March. Opponents quickly filed lawsuits, but the administration initially argued that the claims were premature. This argument led to an initial victory for the administration in a Washington, D.C. case. However, Talwani placed injunctions against the order's implementation for the November midterms in separate cases heard in Boston.
It is anticipated that the case may return to the Supreme Court.
