U.S. judge extends block on Trump bid to curb mail-in ballots

Washington – A federal judge on Friday extended a block on U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order curbing the use of mail-in ballots, the latest twist in a legal dispute ahead of November’s midterm elections.

District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from carrying out a plan that critics say would restrict distribution of mail-in ballots.

Talwani had previously issued a temporary order blocking the USPS plan in a suit filed by a coalition of Democratic-ruled states.

The Democratic-led states sued the administration on the grounds that under the U.S. Constitution, states — and not the federal government — retain broad control over the administration of elections.

The Trump administration appealed Talwani’s earlier ruling to the Supreme Court seeking to have it lifted and is expected to do the same with the judge’s latest order.

Talwani said there is not enough time before the November elections to implement the new procedures and they threaten “disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail.”

North Carolina began sending out mail-in ballots on Friday and other states will be following suit in the coming days.

Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to restrict mail-in voting, saying without evidence that it is vulnerable to fraud.

Trump’s order would require the compilation of lists of eligible voters and for the USPS to deliver ballots only to voters who are on the lists.

A USPS whistleblower warned this week that millions of Americans may not receive their mail-in ballots because the systems being used by the postal service have been put together in a “sloppy and rushed manner.”

Trump has long been a critic of mail-in ballots but has frequently used them himself, including last month when he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary.

The president has for years claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is highly vulnerable to fraud, repeatedly linking it to his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by Democrat Joe Biden.

Polls show that Trump’s Republican Party faces a serious threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in November, particularly the House of Representatives.

If Democrats win, they have signaled they would block Trump’s agenda and could even move to impeach him for the third time.