US Postal Service Implements New Mail-Ballot Rules After Supreme Court Decision

The United States Postal Service announced Thursday that it will start enforcing new rules for handling mail-in ballots, a move enabled by a recent Supreme Court decision that upheld changes promoted by the Trump administration. The regulations require the agency to create lists of eligible voters using data supplied by states and to deliver ballots only to individuals appearing on those lists.

The Supreme Court, operating with a 6-3 conservative majority, cleared the way for the rules after lower-court injunctions were lifted. The court did not address the constitutionality of the measures, focusing instead on procedural issues raised by state officials.

State attorneys general from 24 states have filed a fresh lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts, arguing that the rules violate constitutional authority over elections and could cause “significant, imminent, and irreparable harm” by imposing “new and burdensome mail voting requirements” before the November 3 midterm elections.

The new procedures come as states prepare to mail millions of ballots ahead of the upcoming elections. Mail voting accounted for roughly 30 percent of ballots in the 2024 presidential election, and studies have consistently found the method to be secure, with a Brookings Institution analysis reporting only four instances of fraud per 10 million mail ballots.

“The government subsequently received such relief from those injunctions, meaning the injunctions no longer preclude the implementation of the Rule for November 3, 2026 or any earlier federal election,” the Postal Service said in its statement.

The changes have been criticized by voting-rights groups and Democratic officials, who contend that the eligibility lists could disenfranchise voters and that the administration’s push to restrict mail voting reflects longstanding political opposition to the practice.