US Postal Service says mail-in ballot restrictions now in effect

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkA voter in the US state of South Carolina casts his ballot for a Republican primary runoff between incumbent South Carolina Senator Darline Graham and House Representative Ralph Norman, August 25, 2026 [Sam Wolfe/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff and ReutersPublished On 27 Aug 202627 Aug 2026New restrictions on how the United States Postal Service will handle mail-in ballots are now in effect, even as challenges in court to the measures touted by US President Donald Trump continue.The Postal Service announcement on Thursday comes as states are preparing to send out millions of ballots to voters through the mail ahead of US midterm elections scheduled across the US on November 3.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump asks US Supreme Court to allow mail-in voting restrictionslist 2 of 3US Postal Service shares mail-in ballot restrictions despite court rulinglist 3 of 3US Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail votingend of list“The government subsequently received such relief from those injunctions, meaning the injunctions no longer preclude the implementation of the Rule for November 3, 2026 or any earlier federal election,” the independent federal agency said.The new procedures mean the agency would compile lists of eligible voters using input from US states and only deliver ballots to individuals who are on those lists.On Monday, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the new measures by ruling in favour of the Trump administration. Other court challenges to the rules continue, however, including a fresh case filed in a federal court in the US state of Massachusetts on Wednesday by 24 states. State attorneys-general argue the measures are unconstitutional and would also inflict “significant, imminent, and irreparable harm” on states by imposing “new and burdensome mail voting requirements” just before the November elections.Voting by mail has long been a favourite target for Trump, who has claimed that it breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and his own use of the voting method. President Trump has claimed states have not done an adequate job in verifying who sends in mail-in ballots, and that those registered to vote meet requirements like being US citizens.In March, Trump signed an executive order calling on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to those on those lists.The Postal Service had come up with regulations on how it would handle mail-in ballots based on that directive, but put its implementation on hold as Democratic officials in dozens of states, along with voting rights advocacy groups, lodged legal challenges in federal courts.Monday’s Supreme Court case, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, ruled in the Trump administration’s favor in one of those key challenges: Officials from dozens of states had sued to block the presidential order, arguing that the US Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections and that Trump’s changes could lead to chaos and partisan abuse.The Trump administration then appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural grounds in late July after a judge ruled in the officials’ favour for the midterms, arguing that the states sued too soon. The court did not decide on the constitutionality of the order.Voting by mail has become increasingly popular with voters of both Republican and Democratic parties, accounting for about 30 percent of ballots cast during the 2024 presidential election, according to federal data. Despite claims by Trump about problems with mail-in voting, experts have found it to be secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found only about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.