US Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Order Ahead of Midterm Elections

A US appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict the use of mail-in ballots in the November midterm elections.

District Judge Indira Talwani had issued a preliminary injunction last week preventing the US Postal Service (USPS) from implementing measures under the order that critics said could limit the distribution of mail-in ballots.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously upheld Talwani’s injunction. The Trump administration has already appealed the ruling to the US Supreme Court.

The appeals court said it agreed with the district court’s assessment that implementing the executive order “will likely result in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters across the country while providing minimal — if any — gains in combating voter fraud.”

A coalition of Democratic-led states had sued the administration, arguing that the US Constitution gives states, rather than the federal government, broad authority over the conduct of elections.

The ruling comes as North Carolina began sending mail-in ballots to voters last week, with other states also starting the process.

Trump signed the executive order in March in an effort to restrict mail-in voting, arguing, without providing evidence, that the system is vulnerable to fraud.

Under the order, officials would be required to compile lists of eligible voters, with the USPS instructed to deliver ballots only to voters appearing on those lists.

A USPS whistleblower has also warned that millions of Americans could fail to receive their ballots, alleging that systems being used by the postal service were developed in a “sloppy and rushed manner.”

Trump has long criticised mail-in voting but has also used the system himself, including last month when he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary.

The president has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting is highly vulnerable to fraud and has linked the practice to his unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by Democrat Joe Biden.

The legal battle comes as Trump’s Republican Party faces the possibility of losing its narrow control of Congress in November, particularly in the House of Representatives.

Democrats have indicated that if they regain control, they would seek to block parts of Trump’s agenda and could potentially pursue another impeachment effort against him.