Trump Administration Renews Supreme Court Bid to Limit Mail-in Voting

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters)—The Trump administration on Sunday renewed its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a plan that could limit mail-in ballots ahead of November’s congressional elections, after a federal judge last week blocked those restrictions.

Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the nation’s highest court to allow the U.S. Postal Service to implement a rule restricting mail-in voting, even as some U.S. states have already started sending out postal ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

On Friday, Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani extended a ban preventing the new rule from taking effect. 

The final decision on whether the administration’s mail-in voting restrictions can proceed likely now rests with the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, urged the Supreme Court to allow the rule to immediately go into effect, warning that each day the lower court’s injunction remains in place “risks sowing confusion and chaos” as more states issue mail ballots. 

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a deadline of Wednesday for responses to the Trump administration’s request.

The administration had filed an earlier emergency request to the Supreme Court to overturn Talwani’s shorter-term injunction. Before the top court had ruled on that application, she extended her ban on Friday, leading to the administration’s new filing on Sunday.

The USPS issued its rule to implement an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in March.

Under the rule, states must supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients, and all outbound and return ballot envelopes must bear unique barcodes. The rule allows USPS to refuse to deliver ballots that do not comply with the new standards or are associated with voters not on the lists.

All U.S. states allow for some form of mail-in voting. Twenty-nine states allow voters to ask to ​cast ballots by mail without providing ⁠a reason, and eight conduct elections entirely by mail.

North Carolina on Friday became the first state to mail ballots for the elections in November.

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Sergio Non and Paul Simao)