The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected the Trump Administration's request to temporarily halt a federal court order blocking changes to mail voting procedures. The decision maintains a lower court's block on requirements from the U.S. Postal Service that would have altered how mail ballots are handled.
The changes, mandated by an elections-related executive order from President Trump, would have required state and local election officials to redesign and reprint ballot envelopes and enroll millions of voters in a new, untested USPS system. The USPS changes also would have allowed the postal service to refuse delivery of mail ballots that do not comply with new requirements.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction blocking the changes through the November midterm elections after previously issuing a temporary restraining order. The Trump Administration then appealed to the First Circuit and asked the court to allow the changes to take effect, but the appeals court denied that request.
A coalition of 24 state attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the Governor of Pennsylvania challenged the USPS changes beginning in August. Election officials from states including Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah—some of which are not part of the coalition—argued that implementing the changes before November was not feasible.
"The changes at issue could disenfranchise millions of voters, especially given how little time there is to implement them," Bonta said. A recent whistleblower report submitted to the court warned of "potentially catastrophic problems" with the USPS implementation. In a court filing, USPS also acknowledged that the technology needed to implement the rule is not yet available.