Supreme Court Blocks Postal Service Mail-Ballot Restrictions Before Midterms
The U.S. Supreme Court on September 14, 2026, rejected the Trump administration's request to allow the Postal Service to restrict mail ballots ahead of the November midterm elections.
The case, captioned Postal Service v. California, No. 26A305, sought a stay that would have permitted enforcement of a U.S. Postal Service Final Rule governing ballot mail while litigation continued. The Court denied the request, leaving blocking orders in place. Supreme Court
The rule at issue would have implemented President Donald Trump's mail-ballot order. It required ballot mail to be sent in envelopes with three special features, including an election-mail logo and scannability, according to the Court papers. Supreme Court The underlying March 2026 executive order directed the Postal Service to design new mail-ballot envelopes with special barcodes, required states to provide the agency with lists of eligible voters ahead of elections, and empowered it to deny mailed ballots that did not comply with new standards or were not associated with registered voters on states' lists. Al Jazeera
Two lower-court judges had blocked the Postal Service rule before Supreme Court review. Reuters A related order concerning the USPS Final Rule was limited to a 14-day period expiring on September 10, 2026. The Postal Service told the Court that ballots had already begun to be mailed in North Carolina while the injunction remained in place in early September 2026. USPS stay application
The denial means states can continue sending out mail ballots as they have done for years. Eight states, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington, plus the District of Columbia allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail. Mail ballots currently account for a third of all votes cast in the United States. Trump himself voted by mail, including during the 2024 election. Al Jazeera
The administrative action followed a stalled legislative effort. The SAVE America Act on voting laws passed the House of Representatives in February 2026 and stalled in the Senate. Democrats and activists challenged the mail-voting executive order in several courts. Trump addressed the issue at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas on September 9, 2026. Al Jazeera
Looking at what this means for election administration, the fight centers on who sets the terms for ballot access. Federal control over postal handling collides with state authority over voter eligibility and ballot distribution. Logistics matter. Envelope design, voter-roll transmission and carrier-level verification would shift discretion toward a federal agency in the final weeks of ballot preparation. For practitioners, the calendar is now determinative. With North Carolina already mailing ballots and the November election approaching, any further federal standard would have to survive pre-election purdah principles, appropriations constraints and separate challenges already moving through lower courts.
