Judge permanently blocks Trump admin order on mail-in voting

A federal judge has permanently blocked a major executive order from the Trump administration that sought to impose federal requirements on mail-in voting and voter registration, delivering a significant legal setback to the White House's election integrity agenda. The ruling, issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, halts enforcement of the order for the upcoming November elections and any federal elections held before then.

The executive order, signed on March 31, 2026, directed federal agencies to play a larger role in election administration. It required the U.S. Postal Service to develop a regulation mandating that states provide certified lists of voters eligible for mail-in ballots, along with unique barcodes for ballot envelopes. Under a proposed rule stemming from the order, Postmaster General David Steiner told a Senate committee this week that the Postal Service would not deliver ballots from states that refused to submit such lists. The order also directed the Department of Homeland Security, with assistance from the Social Security Administration, to compile lists of voting-age U.S. citizens in each state for use by election officials.