States file lawsuit to halt USPS mail-ballot rule changes

California, joined by 23 other states led by Democratic attorneys general and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Wednesday seeking an immediate injunction against new U.S. Postal Service regulations for mail-in ballots. The states argue the rules, issued in a 95-page final rule last Friday, usurp state control of elections, require states to provide detailed voter lists to the Postal Service, and create a nationwide database that could expose voter information to federal law-enforcement agencies.

The Postal Service says the changes are needed to comply with President Trump’s March executive order, which also directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile its own lists of eligible voters for comparison with state-provided data. The new regulations would require ballot envelopes with digital bar codes that allow the Postal Service to reject ballots that do not match the submitted lists.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, "This mail-in voting rule is an unlawful overreach… we are confident that the facts and the law are on our side." Governor Gavin Newsom added, "Donald Trump does not run elections. States do. And his latest attack on democracy is proof of how weak he has become."

The lawsuit follows a Supreme Court decision that lifted earlier injunctions and allowed the Postal Service to proceed with the rulemaking, while noting the Court had not ruled on the legality of the rules themselves. The states contend the rule-making process is premature and that the federal government lacks authority to dictate state voter-list procedures.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis responded, "The Supreme Court’s ruling was a major win for the security of American elections," and defended the Postal Service changes as consistent with the administration’s election-security agenda.

Critics of the rule have warned that creating a single national voter database could become a target for foreign interference and impose significant costs on state and local election officials. The Postal Service maintains that it has sufficient staffing and security controls to protect the data and that the benefits outweigh the costs.

The states have asked the court to halt implementation of the rules while the litigation proceeds, asserting that the regulations constitute an unlawful federal overreach into state-run elections.