U.S. election officials face operational disruption as Trump presses mail ballot limits

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US election mail ballot limits

Highlights

Department of Justice petitions Supreme Court to quickly reinstate Trump's March order restricting mail ballots, as 23 states and rights groups launch new challenges.
Technical issues in U.S. Postal Service systems complying with the executive order raise fears of operational disruption for November midterms, amid denials of court order violations.
Twelve Republican-led states, including Florida, support the president's directive, while Justice Department plans record 1,000 federal election monitors and warns states of legal action over non-citizen votes.

Supreme Court fight collides with ballot rollout

As reported by Financial Times, the Department of Justice on Thursday asks the Supreme Court to bypass lower courts that have blocked a March executive order by President Donald Trump limiting the use of mail ballots to names on newly created voter lists.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month says an initial legal challenge to the order is premature, allowing the measure to take temporary effect without ruling on its legality. But 23 states and voting rights groups launch fresh challenges and again block the directive, while the court gives opponents until Tuesday to respond even though some ballots are already being mailed.

The court battle, alongside new U.S. Postal Service regulations tied to the order, leaves election officials in legal limbo in the run-up to the November vote. Tobias Read, Oregon's Democratic secretary of state, says the president is seeking to create confusion and sow doubt about election results he does not like.

David Becker, a former Justice Department voting rights lawyer who now leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, says the administration appears intent on creating a perception of chaos around the election process. An anonymous federal official also warns on Sunday of potentially catastrophic technical problems in the postal service system built to comply with the order, alleging disruptions could derail the midterms, while the postal service denies violating any court order and says it is reviewing the concerns carefully.

States weigh compliance risks and election impact

For now, nothing changes for voters or election officials because Trump's new rule is not in effect, Tammy Patrick of the National Association of Election Officials says. She adds that any implementation would have real implications for who ultimately gets access to mail-in voting, especially with little time left before ballots start moving through the mail.

North Carolina, which sends out its first mail-in ballots on Friday, says it remains confident its absentee ballot rollout will happen smoothly and on time. The state's elections board says it does not want to comment on hypothetical scenarios but will comply with court decisions if needed.

Not all states oppose the move. Twelve Republican-led states, including Florida, join litigation backing the president, and Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd says his state has spent decades building election safeguards while criticizing what he calls lax rules elsewhere.

The mail ballot dispute unfolds alongside broader federal efforts to tighten oversight of elections. Justice Department civil rights division chief Harmeet Dhillon says a record 1,000 federal monitors will be deployed for the midterms, and in July she sends letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia warning election officials of criminal prosecution if ballots cast by non-citizens are counted.

In Oregon, Read last week issues guidance telling election workers to follow current state law unless a judicial decision requires immediate changes. He says the Constitution leaves control over the time, place and manner of elections to the states, a position state officials are continuing to defend.

Our earlier report on the legal battle over Trump’s mail-in voting restrictions described how the Justice Department pushed the Supreme Court to fast-track the case even as ballots were beginning to go out in some states. We also noted warnings about potential U.S. Postal Service disruptions tied to the new compliance system, alongside a broader federal oversight push that includes deploying monitors and threatening prosecution over counting ballots cast by non-citizens.

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