Judge again bars Trump administration from implementing order that
sought to limit mail voting
[August 12, 2026]
By MICHAEL CASEY and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ruled against President Donald
Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and
directly involve the U.S. Postal Service in election operations in a way
that would limit mail voting.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani had already halted the order
Trump signed in March, his second one attempting to set national
election rules. On June 25, she sided with Democratic state attorneys
general in granting summary judgment, preventing the core parts of
Trump's order from taking effect.
Tuesday’s ruling creates another legal hurdle for the Trump
administration to overcome should it get the initial injunction lifted
by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm
elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent
Defendants from changing election rules on the eve of the election,” she
wrote.
The Trump administration in late July requested that the Supreme Court
halt lower court decisions that have blocked the sweeping changes in
nearly half the country.
In the latest lawsuit, Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic
President Barack Obama, sided with the League of Women Voters and other
voting rights groups.
Her ruling granting a preliminary injunction barred the Postal Service
from taking any steps to implement the order for this year's midterm
elections. She said the administration has so far declined to defend the
constitutionality of the executive order.
“The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections,” she
wrote.
In response to the ruling, the White House noted that Trump has called
for Congress to pass a stalled bill to restructure American elections,
“The entire Trump Administration will continue lawfully enacting the
agenda President Trump was elected to enact — which includes the safety
and security of American elections," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis
said in a statement. “This campaign pledge from the President is why
millions of Americans sent him back to the White House.”
Voting rights groups hailed the decision.
“This ruling is a victory for voters and for the Constitution," Marcia
Johnson of the League of Women Voters said in a statement. “Neither the
president nor the U.S. Postal Service has the authority to rewrite
election rules.”
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in
Boston, that the Republican president's order should be found
unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president,
have the power to set election rules. The League of Women Voters also
argued that Trump lacked the authority to issue his order and the U.S.
Postal Service and other defendants lack the authority to carry it out.
Trump’s Republican administration, in its motions to dismiss the
lawsuits, argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their
claims. They also argued that the motions are premature and that
plaintiffs lack the legal basis to bring their claim based on the
Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop
and issue regulations.
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Sean Reid of Rockingham, Vt., casts his ballot at the polling
station in Rockingham during Vermont's state and federal primary
elections on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (Kristopher Radder/The
Brattleboro Reformer via AP)
Stephen Pezzi, a lawyer for the Trump administration, said the harms
the plaintiffs referenced were subjective, because much can change
with the voting list before it is made final. He also said no one
would be prosecuted for violating the order.
Trump’s executive order, the second one aimed at elections during
his second term, comes as he continues to suggest that there is
widespread voting by noncitizens. Along with his executive orders,
Trump is pushing legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress
to create a proof-of-citizenship mandate. The SAVE America Act has
passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.
States already have detailed processes aimed at keeping their voter
rolls accurate, and voting by noncitizens has been shown to be rare.
It also is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.
Trump issued the order in March after a bill he supported to
overhaul voting stalled in Congress. The order would have had the
federal government create a list of eligible voters and then
directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to
those on the list. Election officials argued that it was ripe for
abuse and could cause chaos, and the postal union has objected to
the idea of mail carriers policing ballots.
The Postal Service had published a proposed rule required by Trump’s
executive order in the Federal Register, but it was put on hold by
Talwani's first ruling.
In a separate lawsuit filed against the executive order, a federal
judge in Washington in May agreed with the Trump administration that
it was too early to block the order because it had yet to be
implemented. That lawsuit was brought by Democratic and civil rights
groups. In July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia upheld the May ruling by U.S. District
Court Judge Carl J. Nichols that said an injunction against the
order was premature.
Other rulings have gone against the Trump administration’s first
executive order on elections, signed just months after he took
office in his second term. That order would have required people to
show documents proving their citizenship when registering to vote,
among other changes.
Since his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden,
Trump has groundlessly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud and
has launched a federal investigation into that year’s vote, even
though repeated audits and investigations, including ones run by
Republicans, found it was free of widespread fraud. Trump also has
said he wants to “take over” election administration in Democratic
areas.
___
Riccardi reported from Denver.
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