- Office of the Attorney General
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Molly McGlynn, Communications Director
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 25 states have secured a preliminary injunction (PI) from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, blocking a new rule by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that would have imposed burdensome requirements on vote-by-mail systems ahead of the November 3 midterm elections while the coalition’s lawsuit challenging the rule proceeds.
The order blocks USPS from requiring states to obtain the federal government’s approval of new ballot and return-envelope designs, register for a new USPS portal for tracking voter information (which is not yet operational), input information for each of their state’s mail voters into the portal, and comply with other provisions.
“This order protects our ability to effectively deliver mail ballots to all residents relying on them to make their voices heard in the November election. Voters should continue to vote-by-mail as usual and know that this system is safe and secure,” said AG Campbell. “Neither the President nor USPS has the authority to upend our election laws, and we’ll continue pushing back against this unlawful rule and defending the integrity of mail voting.”
On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the U.S. Postal Service to adopt new regulations that would prohibit USPS from transmitting mail ballots to voters who are not on a USPS-controlled list.
On August 21, USPS announced a new rule implementing the President’s demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes, which states are required to create and get approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-compiled lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that lack USPS’s approval under the rule’s new standards.
On August 26, AG Campbell co-led a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit to block the unlawful rule. On August 28, the court granted the coalition’s request for a temporary restraining order, finding that compliance with the rule before the November elections was “practically impossible” and that it created a significant risk of disenfranchisement.
With general election season around the corner, the coalition argued the rule inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. The coalition argues that USPS’s rule upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures and violates federal statutes and the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections.
AG Campbell was joined in filing this lawsuit, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California, Nevada, and Washington, by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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