Federal judge again issues temporary block on mail-in voting restrictions

A federal judge in Boston has again blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with new mail-in voting restrictions ahead of the November midterms for at least another two weeks.

Judge Indira Talwani ruled Thursday night that a group of blue states and private voting rights groups were likely to succeed in their claims that the U.S. Postal Service rule is unconstitutional, and that the agency lacked authority to issue it.

The temporary restraining order blocks enforcement of the rule for 14 days, which extends beyond when some of the first states begin sending out absentee and overseas ballots.

“Based on the record presently before the court, Plaintiff States face irreparable harm where they are required to comply with a likely unconstitutional regulation for which compliance is practically impossible as to the 2026 midterm elections, now little more than two months away,” Talwani wrote.

The Postal Service published its final rule in the Federal Register Wednesday, which requires that mail ballots have certain designs and specifications, including a unique logo and barcode with an embedded ZIP code.

It also requires state and local election officials to submit lists of eligible voters to the agency before it mails ballots.

The rule implements some of the provisions President Trump had directed as part of a March executive order, as his administration works to exert more control over federal elections. The president has often criticized mail-in voting as ripe for fraud, despite little evidence to support the claim.

The Supreme Court, over the dissent of the three liberal justices, held on Monday that a previous blue-state challenge to Trump’s executive order was brought prematurely and lifted the prior injunction.

That decision prompted Talwani, an Obama appointee, to lift her remaining nationwide injunction on Wednesday despite finding that the administration had violated her order.

A group of Democratic-led states, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other groups promptly filed new challenges to the rule this week, arguing that it interferes with states’ authority to administer its own elections and risks disenfranchising eligible voters.

Talwani agreed, writing that there was an “overwhelming risk” to Americans who need access to mail ballots to vote that warranted the court’s intervention.