Boston judge weighs extending injunction on USPS mail-ballot regulation
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U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani is reviewing whether to prolong a restraining order that blocks a Postal Service plan to regulate mail ballots for the 2024 election, amid uncertainty about implementation details.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani said the Postal Service has not provided information on how it would carry out a plan to regulate mail ballots, a matter she is reviewing as the 2024 election approaches. The judge, who issued a 14-day temporary restraining order last week, is considering whether to extend the injunction that prevents the Postal Service from applying the plan before it expires next week.
"We are 70 days from the election and I have nothing from the USPS about how this will happen," Talwani told Justice Department lawyer Michael Velchik during a hearing in Boston. Velchik indicated the administration may seek Supreme Court review by the end of the week to resume the plan.
The case stems from an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that directed the Postal Service to implement new procedures for mail-in voting. In June, Talwani blocked the order, ruling that the timing was too close to the election for the federal government to undertake such changes. The Supreme Court later found the injunction premature because the Postal Service had not yet issued the required regulations, prompting the agency to publish them shortly before the high court's decision.
Election officials have expressed concerns that the Postal Service's requirements—such as approving envelope designs and requiring states to upload voter lists to an online portal—could be difficult to meet on the election timeline. A recent whistleblower report warned that the rule, which mandates physical delivery of ballots to post offices and discarding entire batches if a single barcode error occurs, could result in millions of ballots not being sent.
Velchik told the judge that participation in the new system is voluntary for states, but the Postal Service has not identified any state that has opted in. The hearing comes as several states begin mailing ballots to voters ahead of the November election.