The Trump administration again asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow new restrictions on mail-in voting to take effect, just one day before the first mail ballots are set to go out for November’s midterm elections. The emergency request comes as legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order continue in lower courts. The Supreme Court previously allowed the administration’s plan to move forward while litigation continues, but the justices have not yet ruled on whether the policy is legal.
Under Trump’s executive order, the U.S. Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots from states that do not provide lists of eligible voters and comply with standardized requirements for ballot envelopes. The latest Supreme Court filing came hours after a federal court hearing in Boston, where a Justice Department attorney was unable to tell a judge whether the system needed to carry out the new requirements was operational.
District Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly pressed Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik for details about whether the Postal Service could implement the plan outlined in Trump’s executive order, which was issued last spring. A central part of the plan involves an online portal designed to track tens of millions of mail ballots. States would be required to upload lists of mail-in voters to the portal in order for their ballots to be delivered.
If information in the system did not match what appeared on ballot envelopes, the ballots would not be sent. Talwani questioned whether the government was effectively running an “experiment” to determine if the system would work during the upcoming election. I have nothing,” she said.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. The contributed to this report. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R.
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