Courts likely to block Trump's effort to curtail mail-in voting
Source: Roll Call
Posted April 2, 2026 at 6:02pm
President Donald Trumps effort to curtail mail voting through executive order will likely be ruled illegal in at least one of several lawsuits filed this week, experts said, the latest in the presidents long-running effort to assert federal control of elections. Democratic party groups and civil rights organizations have already filed three lawsuits over the executive order that Trump issued Tuesday entitled Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.
The order dovetails with Trumps broader year-long effort to assert more federal control over elections ahead of the midterms. It would enact changes to voting nationwide to follow what the president called the unavoidable duty to enforce federal law. That would include sending each state lists of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who are eligible to vote in elections and mandating the U.S. Postal Service only carry election mail for approved voters.
Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who focuses on election law, said the orders primary directive to tell the Postal Service not to deliver mail unless theyre on his naughty and nice list is flatly illegal, and I expect it will take a court about 30 seconds to say so.. I dont think thats actually a hard call here. The thing that you should picture is the president deciding which Christmas cards the Postal Service should deliver. That seems plainly, obviously beyond his authority, Levitt said.
Levitt said the executive order runs into a fundamental problem: the Constitution gives states the primary role in running elections, with the possibility for Congress to weigh in on the rules. Levitt said Congress has not given Trump the power he claimed in the executive order. Congress has not given the president a role of any significance in the electoral process. There are plenty of people whose job it is to oversee the election process, and the presidents not on that list. And again, thats not an oversight, thats by design, Levitt said.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/04/02/courts-likely-to-block-trumps-effort-to-curtail-mail-in-voting/
FarPoint
(14,772 posts)that he is doing this only for himself? We are not complaining that mail in voting is an issue. That this is 100% political vote control and manipulation?
He has to prevent an honest election in November because he will lose control of House and Senate....it's not about mail in voting problems....
BumRushDaShow
(169,841 posts)that Democrats "only" vote by mail (ignoring that many states don't even have the option and Democrats live there) and that Republicans "only" vote "in person" (where many rural red states rely on mail voting due to the hassle of getting to the nearest voting location).
I know here in Philly, a deep blue city, the reality is that most people vote "in person" and only about 1/3rd (of any party and independents) vote "no excuse absentee" which = vote by mail.
FarPoint
(14,772 posts)I have a few friends that do absentee voting and many do early in person voting....
See....we are all pleased and content with the voting options.....Only the Minister of Chaos is messed up and causing us all stress in what use to be a free country.
You bring up a good point....republicans and Independents vote in person too....as well as mail in/ absentee voting...he hurts his sicko followers too. It hurts the GOP voters as well.... It is insane.
BumRushDaShow
(169,841 posts)my polling location was actually in the basement of the building so it was easy peasy to get to. I would usually come home from work, hop the elevator up to my floor to drop off my stuff, hop back on to go to the basement to vote, and then back on again to go back to my apartment. The city has over 1700 polling locations so people would normally live within a mile or less of one.
Since I moved (not far away), they eventually moved that polling location during the pandemic, to another spot not far from where I moved to, so it still wasn't a hassle. HOWEVER what WAS a hassle was the new voting machines that I HATED!!! The blank "ballot" is on thermal paper and ugh. Plus the the step at the end where you verify the names on your ballot, has the ballot in a chute with a clear cover and that chute is not lighted - neither front-lit nor back-lit, so it was hard to make out the whole thing (and the ceiling lighting was not strong enough to clearly illuminate the chute). I did it that way once and after that, NO MORE!
They had just come out with the no-excuse absentee around that time and that is what i have used ever since. Fill in the ovals (like I have done with those state-wide school assessment exams for almost 60 years), then make sure the thing is put in a secrecy envelope, then the outer envelope, sign and date the outer envelope, and either put in the mail or drop off at a drop box or election office.
One of the BIGGEST problems done intentionally to blue cities/counties in red states, is to limit the number of polling places, and that of course creates hours-long lines to vote. It's all part of suppressing the vote.