Trump-Appointed Judge Freezes Mail Ballot Rule Before Midterms

A second federal judge, Trump nominee Carl Nichols, blocked the Postal Service from enforcing new mail voting rules ahead of the November midterms.

Late Sunday, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington, D.C., ordered the U.S. Postal Service not to implement an Aug. 21 rule carrying out President Donald Trump's executive order limiting mail balloting. Nichols issued a preliminary injunction, writing that absent one there is an increased risk a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots would not be counted in the upcoming elections.

The ruling is significant because Nichols was nominated by Trump himself. In May he had refused an injunction, ruling the lawsuit was brought too early — the same reasoning the Supreme Court used late last month when it lifted an earlier freeze by Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. Once the administration issued its rule to move ahead, plaintiffs in Boston and Washington refiled their suits, and Nichols changed course, concluding it is now clear many people could lose their ability to vote.

The new Postal Service regulations stem from an executive order Trump issued earlier this year. They would require all ballot envelope designs to be pre-approved by the Postal Service and would require states to upload the identities of those set to receive ballots into a still-inactive online portal. Election officials say it would be impossible to implement the changes this close to a general election, with mail ballots already going out in at least three states — Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin — and more states distributing them this week.

In granting the preliminary injunction, Nichols wrote that plaintiffs had demonstrated the increased risk that otherwise valid ballots would go uncounted, and that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that does not happen. A whistleblower report to Congress warned that millions of people would be disenfranchised if the rule took effect for the midterms, and the union representing USPS workers has pushed back, saying it is not the job of postal workers to verify voter eligibility.

With midweeks of ballot distribution already underway, last-minute changes to envelope designs and portal requirements risk disenfranchising voters, as election officials warned. Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump, who has falsely blamed it for his 2020 loss to Joe Biden and claimed it is a pathway to fraud despite his own use of the voting method. The double freeze means the administration's effort to rewrite election rules faces obstacles on two separate dockets simultaneously.

The Supreme Court is already considering the administration's appeal of Judge Talwani's order prohibiting the Postal Service from enforcing its new rule before the midterms, so the justices are poised to weigh in on the matter. Talwani, nominated by Barack Obama, and Nichols, nominated by Trump, reached the same practical conclusion on parallel lawsuits after the administration issued its rule.