US Federal Judge Lifts Nationwide Ban on Restrictions on Mail Voting

Washington, Aug 26 (KUNA) – A federal judge in Massachusetts lifted today a nationwide injunction on mail-voting restrictions, temporarily paving the way for the Donald Trump administration to begin enforcing these restrictions ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for November. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston came in response to a request by the Justice Department to reconsider a prior court order, following a Supreme Court decision earlier this week that ruled a separate lawsuit challenging a March executive order directing the Postal Service to implement new standards for mailing ballots had been filed prematurely. The lawsuit had been filed by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other voting rights groups, which are now seeking a new injunction after the U.S. Postal Service finalized its regulatory rules. The emergency Supreme Court ruling issued yesterday was part of a separate lawsuit brought by a coalition of Democratic-led states challenging President Trump’s executive order. Although the court found that the Democratic states had filed their suit prematurely, it did not rule on whether the restrictions are fundamentally legal. The new rule, published today in the Federal Register, requires mail-in ballots to bear a unique identifier and barcodes that include the ZIP code, along with other specifications. The rule also requires state and local election officials to provide lists of eligible voters before the Postal Service can mail out ballots. Democratic-led states have filed a new challenge against the rule, arguing that it oversteps state authority over their own elections and poses a risk of disenfranchising eligible voters. The midterms are less than 70 days away, with early mail-ballot mailing potentially beginning as early as September 4 in North Carolina. (End) R.S.R. / M.A.H.A.