The U.S. Postal Service published guidance Thursday implementing a Trump administration policy that restricts mail-in voting by requiring states to cross-check voter rolls against federal citizenship records before sending ballots. The move sets up a collision between federal election policy and state authority just weeks before the November general election, which will determine control of Congress.
The new rule limits mail ballot delivery to voters whose names match federal citizenship data maintained by the government. States are now required to submit voter rolls to federal authorities as part of the process. Officials in Democratic-led states argue the requirement violates the Constitution, which grants states primary power over election administration.
Legal Battle Accelerates
Twenty-four Democratic states plus the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits to block the policy. Among the challenging jurisdictions are California, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and others. Voting rights groups have joined the legal effort, arguing the rule could disenfranchise eligible voters in the weeks before the November 3 election.
The U.S. Justice Department defended the rule in a brief filed Thursday, asserting that the policy preserves voting access. “The Rule does not displace a single State election law. And it need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail,” according to the department’s court filing, as first reported by the Daily Montanan.
The lawsuits were re-filed Wednesday after the Supreme Court issued a procedural ruling Monday that temporarily allowed the policy to proceed. The high court’s decision did not address the merits of the constitutional challenge, leaving the legal question unresolved.
Implementation Timeline Tightens
States have raised concerns that the new mail ballot standards are difficult to implement before November. President Trump said Thursday he believed states could comply with the rule, citing North Carolina, where mail ballots are scheduled to go out the following week.
Trump characterized the policy as a Republican advantage. “North Carolina is great. And they do some mail-in ballots. But basically they ruled on the legitimacy and the way we want to make them legitimate. And it was a great ruling for the Republicans,” he told the Daily Montanan Thursday.
The policy comes as election officials across the country prepare for what is expected to be high turnout in midterm voting. The timing of the rule’s implementation—less than two months before Election Day—has prompted state election administrators to voice logistical concerns about verifying voter eligibility against federal databases in the compressed timeframe.
The outcome of the legal challenges could reshape how mail voting operates nationally in this election cycle and set precedent for future contests involving the balance of power between federal and state election authorities.
