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Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's Mail-In Voting Restrictions

9 sources across 5 countries

Who reported this

  • MS NOW United States · Left · Versant (spun off from NBCUniversal)
  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery
  • Associated Press United States · Centre · Non-profit news cooperative
  • Clarin Argentina · Centre-right · Grupo Clarin
  • Infobae Argentina · Centre-right · Daniel Hadad
  • Der Spiegel Germany · Centre-left · ~50% staff-owned
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Germany · Centre-right · FAZIT-Stiftung (foundation)
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • The Jerusalem Post Israel · Centre-right · Mirkaei Tikshoret (Eli Azur)

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the United States Postal Service (USPS) from implementing key parts of a rule designed to restrict mail-in voting. The ruling comes approximately two months before the November congressional midterm elections. The order prevents the USPS from enforcing requirements regarding the design of ballot envelopes and the use of specific voter lists for 14 days. A hearing to consider a longer-term preliminary injunction is scheduled for September 3.

The rule, which implements an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, would require states to submit lists of mail ballot recipients to the USPS and use envelopes with unique barcodes. The USPS would then have the authority to refuse delivery to voters not on those lists or to ballots that do not meet the new design standards. The administration argues these measures are necessary to prevent voter fraud and modernize infrastructure. Conversely, the plaintiffs, which include 23 states, the District of Columbia, and various civil rights organizations, argue that the rule is unconstitutional and usurps the authority of states and Congress to regulate elections.

Judge Talwani stated in her ruling that the government provided no evidence of fraudulent mail-in voting to justify the rule. She noted that compliance would be practically impossible for many states given the proximity to the election, as it would require redesigning and reprinting millions of envelopes. This legal battle follows a Supreme Court ruling on Monday that lifted a previous block by Talwani, with the high court stating the earlier challenge was premature because the final USPS rules had not yet been published.

Outlets with a center-right lean focus on the legal sequence of events and the administration's stated goal of preventing fraud. Outlets with a center-left or left lean emphasize the risk of voter disenfranchisement and characterize the administration's claims of fraud as unsubstantiated or false.

How each side framed it

Left
This source emphasizes the lack of evidence for fraud and frames the rule as an effort to restrict voting rights.
Centre-left
These sources highlight the potential for voter disenfranchisement and the likely unconstitutionality of the rules.
Centre
This source provides a neutral summary of the judge's action and the likelihood of a swift appeal.
Centre-right
These sources focus on the procedural history of the court cases and the administration's goal of preventing electoral fraud.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.