by Kevin Killough
A federal district court in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order on the U.S. Postal Service, preventing it from implementing President Donald Trump’s 2026 executive order regarding mail-in ballots.
The executive order, issued in March of this year, directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of eligible voters nationwide, on a state-by-state basis, and seeks to block the U.S. Postal Service from delivering absentee ballots to voters not on state-approved rolls.
“The Federal Government has an unavoidable duty under Article II of the Constitution of the United States to enforce Federal law, which includes preventing violations of Federal criminal law and maintaining public confidence in election outcomes,” the executive order says.
“To enhance election integrity via the United States Mail, additional measures are necessary. Secure ballot envelope identifiers provide a reliable, auditable mechanism to enforce Federal law without unduly burdening or infringing on the rights of eligible voters. Unique ballot envelope identifiers, such as bar codes, enable confirmation that only citizens receive and cast ballots, reducing the risk of fraud and protecting the integrity of Federal elections,” it adds.
The same court in June blocked other portions of Trump’s order in 23 states and Washington, D.C., ABC News reported. Both injunctions apply only to the Nov. 3 midterm elections as litigation winds through the courts.
Both injunctions also indicated that the plaintiffs would likely succeed on the merits of their case, which argues the Trump administration exceeded its authority in attempting to impose election requirements on states. States, the lawsuits argue, have the primary responsibility for regulating voting under the law.
The Justice Department last month asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the dispute. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that a lower court’s injunction on the order was premature and “extraordinary” because it blocks federal officials from implementing Trump’s order that merely aims to promote election integrity.
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Kevin Killough is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Mail-In Voting” by Lbeaumont. CC BY-SA 4.0.
