US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Campbell, L. (2026, September 11). US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/10/usps-mail-ballot-voting-court-ruling

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-09-11 · by Lucy Campbell

Quick Summary

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 locally by qwen2.5:14b 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).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

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 2026-10-28, grounded in this article and the 36 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Mail Voting Disputes with Trump
Politics · 37 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 13% hedged 3 of 23 📰 publisher trust 67
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September 5, 2026 same event · 100%
Letters from an American
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 8% hedged 4 of 52
“Both articles describe a court ruling on September 4, 2026, rejecting Trump's plan to restrict mail-in voting.”
A Mail Voting Fight About Nothing same event · 100%
The Dispatch
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles describe the same Supreme Court appeal from Trump's administration, the same issue with USPS mail ballots, and the same outcome of a court ruling.”
California, other states warn Supreme Court of 'chaos' if it lets USPS mail ballot rules stand same event · 100%
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⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 22% hedged 7 of 32 📰 publisher trust 95
“Both articles report on the same US appeals court decision rejecting Trump's attempt to restrict mail-in voting, with Article A focusing on the warning from California and other states about potential 'chaos' if the decision is not made in time for the November election.”
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⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 21% hedged 5 of 24 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles describe different court decisions: one by a US appeals court and another by the US Supreme Court.”
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“The articles describe different judicial decisions: a US appeals court decision on September 11th and the Supreme Court's ruling on September 15th.”
Why a Trump-Appointed Judge Just Blocked the President's Mail-In Ballot Restrictions different event · 95%
Reason · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 16% hedged 3 of 19 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different court decisions: Article A discusses an appeals court rejecting Trump's bid to restrict mail-in voting, while Article B mentions a Supreme Court ruling allowing the executive branch to implement restrictions.”
States given clearance for mail-in voting as US supreme court thwarts Trump | First Thing different event · 95%
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 16% hedged 7 of 43 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different judicial decisions; Article A is about a US appeals court ruling, while Article B refers to the Supreme Court's decision.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
67/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
37
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Lucy Campbell
15 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 The result would mean a limited delivery of ballots to only the voters on those approved lists.
2026-09-11 · assertive framing · US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 15 articles by Lucy Campbell →

Topics

Boston USPS the Department of Homeland Security the Final Rule the US Postal Service

Subjects

Trump ORG · 7× USPS ORG · 5× Biden PERSON · 1× Boston GPE · 1× DHS ORG · 1× Donald Trump’s PERSON · 1× Florida GPE · 1× Joe Biden PERSON · 1× the Department of Homeland Security ORG · 1× the US Postal Service ORG · 1×

Narrative

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.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-11
🔮 The result would mean a limited delivery of ballots to only the voters on those approved lists.
2026-09-11 · The Guardian
US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 1 hedged)

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. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
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). asserted
Trump → sign → Security
The result would mean a limited delivery of ballots to only the voters on those approved lists. asserted
result → mean → lists
Democratic states and voting rights groups swiftly filed several lawsuits, arguing that Trump’s ordered changes are unconstitutional. asserted
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. asserted
who → run → directives
Indeed, with the midterms less than two months out, some states have already started sending out ballots. asserted
states → start → ballots
The Trump administration has called its plans to limit mail-in ballots “commonsense measures” aimed at protecting voting security. asserted
administration → call → security
Trump has called the order blocking those plans “unreasoned and unlawful”. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
states → allow → system
But as yet, none have announced they will do so. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
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. asserted
agency → warn → order
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