A US appeals court has rejected Donald Trump's bid to impose restrictions on mail-in voting before the November midterms, upholding an injunction issued by a lower court judge last week. The ruling blocks the US Postal Service from tightening rules around postal voting, which would have limited delivery of ballots to voters on approved lists. Three judges nominated by Joe Biden agreed that Trump does not have the power to regulate states' election policy, writing that the president's rule is "likely unlawful". This rejection comes as the Supreme Court also considers Trump's efforts to introduce new requirements curtailing mail-in voting, a practice that Trump has repeatedly criticized despite using it himself.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Here's a summary of the news story:
The Trump administration has been trying to implement new rules for mail-in voting, which would require states to provide lists of eligible voters to the US Postal Service (USPS) so that they can verify who receives mail-in ballots. However, this move has been met with opposition from states and election officials, who claim it would be "virtually impossible" to comply with these changes in time for the midterm elections.
A federal judge, Massachusetts District Judge Indira Talwani, issued a preliminary injunction on Friday evening blocking the new rules while a legal battle plays out. The Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court for permission to push the changes through, but it's unclear if this will be allowed.
Meanwhile, North Carolina became the first state to start sending out mail-in ballots on Friday, despite the uncertainty over whether these new federal rules will be allowed to take effect and whether the USPS can implement them in time. Other states are expected to follow suit in the coming days and weeks.
There is also a whistleblower who has warned that there could be "potentially catastrophic problems" with the new system for handling mail-in ballots, which could lead to millions of ballots being undelivered.
Overall, the situation is uncertain and chaotic, with multiple lawsuits and legal battles playing out over these new rules.
Written for “Mail Voting Disputes with Trump” on 2026-09-12,
grounded in this article and the 36 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.65, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 8020: no verified evidence · logged 2026-09-11
A US appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting before November’s high-stakes midterm elections, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown.
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court → reject → crackdown
The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals declined on Thursday to put on hold an injunction issued by a lower court judge last week, preventing the US Postal Service (USPS) from tightening rules around postal voting.
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court → base → voting
The panel of three judges, nominated by Joe Biden, agreed with the plaintiffs that the president does not have the power to regulate states’ election policy.
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president → nominate → policy
“Appellants have not made a strong showing that the district court erred in determining that the Final Rule is likely unlawful,” they wrote, making reference to a rule published by the USPS to implement Trump’s order.
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they → make → order
It comes as the US supreme court also considers Trump’s efforts to introduce new requirements curtailing the practice, which the US president has frequently criticized despite doing it himself.
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president → come → it
Back in March, Trump signed an executive order seeking to prohibit the USPS from delivering ballots to any voters not on a nationwide list of eligible voters in each state created by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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Trump → sign → Security
The result would mean a limited delivery of ballots to only the voters on those approved lists.
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result → mean → lists
Democratic states and voting rights groups swiftly filed several lawsuits, arguing that Trump’s ordered changes are unconstitutional.
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changes → file → lawsuits
Meanwhile, state election officials who run the elections have said there is not enough time to overhaul their systems to meet the new federal directives.
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who → run → directives
Indeed, with the midterms less than two months out, some states have already started sending out ballots.
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states → start → ballots
The Trump administration has called its plans to limit mail-in ballots “commonsense measures” aimed at protecting voting security.
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administration → call → security
Trump has called the order blocking those plans “unreasoned and unlawful”.
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Trump → call → plans
Trump has repeatedly sought to restrict voting by mail, despite doing it twice himself this year alone in his resident state of Florida.
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Trump → seek → Florida
He has falsely blamed mail voting for his 2020 election loss to Biden, while promoting baseless claims of fraud.
uncertain
He → blame → fraud
The president’s order allows states to voluntarily use the new system.
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states → allow → system
But as yet, none have announced they will do so.
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they → announce → ?
The USPS, for its part, has said it stands ready to implement Trump’s new restrictions, which would require states to give the postal service the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots for federal elections, if the court injunctions are lifted.
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injunctions → say → elections
However, it has also said in recent court filings that the technology needed to administer the president’s order is not even available.
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technology → say → order
And earlier this month, a USPS whistleblower warned of “potentially catastrophic problems” if the agency were to try to carry out the order.
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agency → warn → order
