The Supreme Court on Monday declined to implement new mail-in voting restrictions proposed by the Trump administration, allowing states to continue using their established processes for the upcoming midterm elections. The court's brief order came amid a flurry of legal challenges as voting was already underway in some areas.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred with the outcome for the midterms but suggested he might be open to the administration's arguments in future deliberations. The Trump administration had urged the court to approve the restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress, a move that could have significantly impacted nearly one-third of the country that votes by mail.
Election officials had previously stated that a wholesale change to mail ballot procedures in the weeks leading up to the election was unfeasible. Several states, including Alabama, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, had already begun sending out mail ballots under existing protocols before the Supreme Court's ruling.
The proposed restrictions by the Trump administration included requirements for uniform envelope styles and the submission of voter lists to an online portal, with the Postal Service potentially refusing to deliver ballots to non-compliant states. A whistleblower report raised concerns that these requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots not being delivered due to technical issues with the portal and potential bar code errors.
Democratic state officials and voting rights groups had challenged the restrictions, arguing that the president lacked the constitutional authority to unilaterally alter election rules so close to a major election. Lower courts had sided with these challenges, issuing preliminary injunctions against the plan. However, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, asserting that federal control over the Postal Service granted authority to set rules for mail ballot handling and that compliance was achievable.
The federal government had initially secured a procedural victory at the Supreme Court, though the justices had not ruled on the fundamental legality of the plan at that stage.
President Trump has been a vocal critic of mail voting, frequently and falsely attributing his 2020 election loss to widespread fraud in mail-in balloting, despite personally utilizing the method for casting his own votes.