Washington — On Wednesday, August 26th, 2026, a coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts seeking to block a new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rule imposing requirements on mail voting ahead of the November midterm elections.

The USPS rule, published last Friday, was issued in response to an executive order signed by President Trump in March aimed at tightening mail voting regulations. The states argue that the rule unconstitutionally exceeds executive branch authority and interferes with states' rights to administer elections under their own laws.

"The Rule violates the Constitution and federal statutes many times over," the state attorneys general said. They further contend that the rule displaces state laws enacted under each state's constitutional authority, imposes new USPS functions and ballot mail constraints inconsistent with USPS statutes, flouts procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and conflicts with federal voting rights law.

The rule includes enrolling voters in a state-specific "Mail-In and Absentee Participation List," which the Postal Service describes as "primarily intended to assist election officials and law enforcement to understand who may have been mailed a ballot, in order to identify potentially anomalous incidents that may merit further investigation." The states claim this will force election officials to rapidly develop new systems to convey mail voter lists to USPS, create guidance, train officials, and educate the public about changes.

The lawsuit warns the rule risks disenfranchising voters who cast ballots by mail and will hinder states' ability to administer mail voting programs for the midterms.

In a related development, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision resting on procedural grounds, ruled that the states filed their lawsuit prematurely and that the district court lacked jurisdiction to block the Trump administration from implementing the executive order.

Each of these defects, the states argue, establishes the rule's unlawfulness and demonstrates USPS's disregard for the law in executing the President's policy preferences.

Sources