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A federal judge on Thursday issued the fourth order striking down President Trump’s March executive action seeking to overhaul elections by creating an internal list of eligible voters based on available data.
District Court Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Obama, echoed her colleagues in affirming that states have authority over their election processes and said current efforts to remove citizens from voter rolls are unconstitutional.
“The President ‘plays no direct role in the process’ of appointing electors, ‘nor does he have authority to control the state officials who do,’” Talwani wrote in the order, ruling in favor of the 22 Democratic-led states, the District of Columbia and attorneys representing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who brought the lawsuit.
The executive order directs the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver mail-in ballots to individuals on each state’s voter roll of federally approved citizens based on available citizenship data.
Postal Service officials would also be responsible for distributing mail ballots with individualized barcodes for tracking purposes.
The Trump administration moved to dismiss the case, alleging that the lawsuit was filed prematurely, citing no present harm.
Talwani disagreed.
“Nearly half of Plaintiff States have already purchased mail ballot envelopes for the 2026 federal election cycle that will not be in compliance with the requirements the EO has directed USPS to adopt by rulemaking,” Talwani wrote.
“For example, Massachusetts has already spent approximately $3 million on its mail ballot envelopes, and both Maine and Rhode Island have already spent over $50,000 on ballot envelopes and return envelopes that lack Intelligent Mail barcodes,” she added, noting the executive order’s immediate impact on midterm elections.
Delaware also flagged that it’d already purchased envelopes and “does not have funds budgeted” to purchase new envelopes that would be compliant with the proposed rule, Talwani wrote.
Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers on Wednesday that the Postal Service would comply with any court orders governing voting by mail.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags District Court Judge Indira Talwani Donald Trump Josh Shapiro Midterm elections Obama Trump administration Trump mail in executive orderCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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