Supreme Court Keeps Mail-In Voting Rules in Place, Rejects Trump Administration Request
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The U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s bid to impose new postal service requirements on mail-in ballots, leaving existing procedures unchanged for the upcoming midterm elections.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied the Trump administration’s request to enforce new United States Postal Service rules that would have required states to submit voter lists and use specific barcodes on ballot envelopes. The decision leaves the existing mail-in voting system intact for the 2024 midterm elections, allowing the Postal Service to continue delivering ballots as it has been doing.
A federal judge in Boston had earlier issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Postal Service from imposing the requirements, finding the agency likely lacked authority to regulate mail-in voting. A second federal judge issued a similar injunction later in the week. The high court voted to keep those injunctions in place, indicating the administration’s challenge was unlikely to succeed on the merits.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a brief concurrence noting that while the rule might fall within the Postal Service’s statutory authority, applying it to the 2026 elections would be “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act because officials would not have sufficient time to implement it.
"There is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority," Kavanaugh said, adding concerns about timing and implementation.
Republican election officials from several states, including Utah, warned in a Supreme Court brief that the proposed changes could cause “mistakes, delays, and confusion for both voters and election officials.”
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the administration should be allowed to pause the lower-court injunctions.
President Trump has argued that the rule was needed to prevent illegal voting by non-citizens, though the administration has not presented evidence of such fraud in court. Studies and audits have shown that non-citizen voting is extremely rare.
The decision comes as mail-in voting continues in states such as Alabama, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, where many ballots are cast by mail.