Obama Judge Indira Talwani in Boston again blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with mail-in voting restrictions. The block will continue for at least another two weeks, making it impossible to put them in place for early voting.
The administration was ready to proceed, but Democrats are opposed.
According to Politico, Talwani ruled late Thursday that a group of blue states and private voting rights groups were likely to succeed in their claims that the U.S. Postal Service rule is unconstitutional and that the agency lacked authority to issue it.
The temporary restraining order blocks enforcement of the rule for 14 days. This extends beyond when some of the first states begin sending out absentee and overseas ballots, The Hill reports.
The administration’s goal is to make sure absentee ballots are not sent willy-nilly to everyone.
Trying to Protect the Ballot Isn’t Easy
The Postal Service published its final rule in the Federal Register Wednesday, which requires that mail ballots have certain designs and specifications, including a unique logo and barcode with an embedded ZIP code.
It also requires state and local election officials to submit lists of eligible voters to the agency before it mails ballots.
The Supreme Court held on Monday that a blue-state challenge to Trump’s executive order was brought prematurely. They then lifted the prior injunction.
That decision prompted Talwani to lift her remaining nationwide injunction on Wednesday. The Supreme Court has ruled that district judges cannot issue nationwide orders. However, she also found that the administration had violated her order. Her order was illegal based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
A group of Democrat-led states, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other groups promptly filed new challenges to the rule this week. They argued that it interferes with states’ authority to administer their own elections and risks disenfranchising eligible voters.
Talwani agreed, writing that there was an “overwhelming risk.”
According to WEAU, “The new rule reassigned USPS an unprecedented and illegal gatekeeping role in the administration of mail voting,” said John Cusick, Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has been challenging the order.
Cusick said there is a risk of voter disenfranchisement if the USPS rule is implemented and believes it creates confusion.
Absentee ballots were only meant for those with special circumstances. Democrats have said they want everyone to vote, even noncitizens.