Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Mail Ballot Rule Change

A federal appeals court has refused to lift a lower court’s order halting the Trump administration’s new rules for mail ballots before the midterms. This decision is part of an ongoing legal case that has already reached the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel from the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nine-page opinion. They asserted that the administration had failed to demonstrate that the U.S. Postal Service’s new rule would not lead to widespread voter disenfranchisement before the November midterms, as a lower court judge had previously determined.

The judges stated, “Indeed, appellants have not even seriously challenged this aspect of the district court’s ruling, much less demonstrated why it is clearly erroneous.”

The appellate panel highlighted that despite President Trump’s claims of mail voting fraud, there was no evidence of past or likely impending fraud. They pointed out that implementing the new rule would likely disenfranchise millions of voters nationwide, offering minimal benefits in preventing voter fraud.

The panel members, Judges Gustavo A. Gelpí, Julie Rikelman, and Seth Aframe, were appointed by President Joe Biden to the First Circuit.

The judges concluded that the appellants had not convincingly shown the district court’s error in deeming the Final Rule likely unlawful. They noted that the Elections Clause in the Constitution gives the regulation of elections for Congress to the States and Congress, not an executive agency such as the Postal Service.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction last week preventing the Postal Service from enforcing the new rule. The Trump administration subsequently appealed to both the First Circuit and the Supreme Court, though the latter has not yet decided on the stay request.

Talwani’s ruling found the Postal Service’s requirements potentially unconstitutional. It noted that implementing these close to the November elections could “nearly guarantee significant disenfranchisement for eligible voters.”

The new rule mandates states and localities meet specific design requirements for mail ballots, including unique barcodes. Furthermore, authorities must use an online portal for submitting voter information, which includes names, addresses, and barcodes. These voters would then be listed in state-specific “Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists.”

Postal workers must review mail ballots and return any non-compliant mailings to election offices, as outlined by the Postal Service.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration made its third appeal to the Supreme Court to intervene. Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s filings with the court called for a stay of Talwani’s “baseless injunction,” arguing the rule was a legitimate exercise of USPS’s authority to regulate envelope design and necessary addressee information.