Appeals court blocks Trump’s USPS mail-in ballot rule

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied the Trump administration's request to lift a lower court's order that blocked new rules for mail-in ballots before the November midterms. The contested new rule would require states to compile a list of mail-in ballot recipients in order for the U.S. Postal Service to use specific envelopes with unique barcodes. The USPS would be able to verify the ballots, and reject or return ballots that did not meet requirements, as a means of protecting against voter fraud.

A lower court ruled last week that the USPS’ requirements for mail-in ballots were unconstitutional and complicated voting, which would discourage people from casting ballots. The Trump administration then appealed the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

What made the panel reject the request? In a nine-page opinion, the three-judge appellate panel found that the new USPS rule may potentially disenfranchise millions of voters nationwide while doing very little to protect against voter fraud. Therefore, they refused the Trump administration’s appeal to allow the new postal rule to stand.

The Trump administration also appealed to the Supreme Court, but the high court has yet to rule.