Appeals Court Upholds Block On Trump Mail-In Ballot Restrictions [Op-Ed]

Another day, another legal loss for the Trump administration. A panel of appeals court judges has upheld a block against President Donald Trump’s executive order creating significant restrictions on mail-in voting. 

AP reports that the three-judge panel upheld the block Judge Indira Talwani issued last week. The block prevents the United States Postal Service (USPS) from implementing a rule that would’ve given it an unusual level of control over elections. The rule would require postal workers to withhold mail-in ballots in states that haven’t sent their voter roll data to a federal online portal. The executive order also required mail-in ballots to be redesigned to have trackable barcodes.

Election officials have said it would be impossible to meet the USPS requirements, as ballots have already been mailed out in several states. 

“Appellants have not made a strong showing that the district court erred in determining that the Final Rule is likely unlawful,” the panel wrote, referencing the USPS rule. The panel added that the Trump administration had done little to dispel arguments by many election officials that the changes would bring “chaos and widespread disenfranchisement.”

Trump’s executive order has faced legal challenges almost as soon as it was signed. Despite the Constitution explicitly placing control of election laws with the states, and in some instances Congress, that hasn’t prevented Trump from trying his hardest to federalize elections. 

Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting stem from his 2020 election loss, where he claimed the election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. Was there any evidence of widespread voter fraud? Of course not! But when has something as simple as the truth stopped Trump from attacking American institutions? 

Talwani issued a block on the rule earlier this Summer, but the Supreme Court lifted the block last month. The court’s ruling didn’t address the legality of the executive order; instead, it lifted the block on a technicality, saying the block was premature because the rule hadn’t been finalized. Once the block was lifted, the USPS finalized the rule regarding mail-in ballots. 

Shortly after Talwani reissued the block, a whistleblower said the USPS was still moving forward with implementing the rule. Worse, the online portal is apparently glitchy and will likely cause eligible votes to go uncounted. 

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, and it’s unclear how they would rule. 

Despite considering themselves originalists, the Court has consistently shown a willingness to expand the president’s power. You’d think that the rule being blatantly unconstitutional, implemented so close to the midterms, and undoubtedly throwing our elections into chaos would make the Court’s ruling obvious, right? Well, that didn’t stop them from allowing Louisiana to engage in a redistricting effort while the primary elections were underway. Just this week, the Supreme Court ruled that Missouri has to conduct its midterm elections with a different map than the one it used for its primaries. 

I wish I lived in a country where I could trust the Supreme Court not to actively disenfranchise one-third of the country, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. So if you, like me, vote by mail, I’d suggest dropping it off at an actual polling site since we can’t trust the post office to do its job. 

SEE ALSO:

Federal Judge Sides With NAACP In Mail-In Voting Lawsuit

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