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Mail-In Ballot Reform Struck Down by Supreme Court
Written by Rebecca Oxtot
Edited by Piotr Mateusz Kukula and Francesca Howard
The Supreme Court has recently blocked Trump’s executive order to enact new mail-in ballot regulations leading up to the midterm elections. The executive order would have forced all states to abide by new rules set by the United States Postal Service (USPS), creating greater barriers to distributing ballots to voters.
USPS was assigned the responsibility of creating these new regulations, alongside the development of a software system for states to upload voters’ information. This system would screen ballot requests for an individual’s eligibility, potentially barring the delivery of ballots if discrepancies were identified. The quick turnaround of this system raised alarms for many, including voting rights organizations and Democratic officials who filed lawsuits against these measures.
These concerns were corroborated by a whistleblower from USPS, who came forward to express their concern with the development of these new regulations in August. They reported that the development of the software system was “rushed” and “risky and hazardous” due to the quick turnaround demanded by leadership. They also warned against the zero percent failure rate process that was moving forward. Under these regulations, a single discrepancy between voter information in the database and a ballot would prevent the entire batch of ballots from being distributed. This could have resulted in thousands of ballots being withheld due to simple name or address changes, assuming the software itself functioned with complete accuracy, which was unlikely given its rushed development.
On September 14th, the Supreme Court left in place a lower court’s decision to block the regulations, due to their potential to disenfranchise swaths of voters arbitrarily. President Trump criticized the ruling as a blow to Republicans, continuing to falsely claim that mail-in ballots allow for mass voting fraud.
This attempt to convolute the mail-in ballot system is only one avenue through which the Republican party is trying to gain a systematic advantage in the midterm elections. House Republicans are also pushing for the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Trump has even threatened not to sign an unrelated housing reform bill as a protest over the SAVE Act’s standstill in Congress.
Noncitizen voting in presidential elections is already illegal and incredibly rare. The Brennan Center found that in 2016, there were only 30 suspected noncitizen votes cast, accounting for only .0001% of total votes. Yet the Trump administration continues to insist that noncitizen voting is a national issue worthy of reshaping our electoral processes. In reality, it is a conspiratorial excuse to disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.
Requiring proof of citizenship may sound intuitive, given that only citizens can vote in national elections. But in actuality, 21.3 million Americans are estimated to lack easy access to these documents. Acquiring a new passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers can be a difficult process and a serious barrier to voting access. These aren’t documents that US citizens are legally obligated to possess, and expecting millions of citizens to acquire them before the November midterms is absurd. This bill’s only function would be to disenfranchise the most at risk - those without the time, money, and resources to easily acquire these documents.
In his second term, Trump has made countless attempts to breed distrust towards US electoral processes and pin undesirable outcomes on unsupported voting fraud claims. His most recent mail-in ballot requirements have been struck down, and the SAVE America Act currently lacks the congressional approval to pass. Yet these failures aren’t the end of the administration’s attempts to disenfranchise millions of Americans, which have only escalated in anticipation to November’s midterms.
Sources
Amenabar, Teddy. “Can I Vote by Mail in the 2026 Midterm Elections? What to Know.” ProPublica, 16 Sept. 2026, www.propublica.org/article/mail-in-voting-rules-midterm-elections.
Gerstein, Josh, and Kyle Cheney. “Supreme Court Blocks Trump Mail-in Ballot Plan - Politico.” Politico, 15 Sept. 2026, www.politico.com/news/2026/09/14/supreme-court-blocks-trump-mail-in-ballot-plan-01076079.
Lambert, Lisa, et al. “Trump Criticises Supreme Court after Justices Block Mail-in Ballot Restrictions.” BBC News, BBC, 15 Sept. 2026, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yjpdy4gjlo.
Morris, Kevin T, and Cora Henry. “Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily Available.” Brennan Center for Justice, 11 June 2024, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/millions-americans-dont-have-documents-proving-their-citizenship-readily.
Parkinson, John. “Trump Says He ‘will Not Sign’ Bipartisan Housing Bill, but Doesn’t Threaten Veto Either.” ABC News, 10 July 2026, abcnews.com/Politics/trump-sign-bipartisan-housing-bill-threaten-veto/story?id=134649463.
Steiner, David. “PDF.” United States Senate, 31 Aug. 2026.
Swenson, Ali. “Trump’s Push to Restrict Mail Ballots Failed. Other Efforts to Reshape the Midterms Continue.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 17 Sept. 2026, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-push-to-restrict-mail-ballots-failed-other-efforts-to-reshape-the-midterms-continue.
Timm, Jane C. “Trump and Mike Johnson Zero in on Noncitizen Voting. It’s Already Illegal and Very Rare.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 12 Apr. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/trump-johnson-noncitizen-voting-illegal-rare-rcna147567.
