The Justice Department asks the Supreme Court to clear the way for new Postal Service safeguards that verify mail-ballot recipients, just as North Carolina becomes the first state to send out ballots for the November election.
The Trump administration has taken its mail-ballot integrity fight back to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to clear the way for new Postal Service safeguards just as the first ballots of the 2026 midterm election season hit the mail. The emergency application, filed Thursday, seeks to lift a federal judge's temporary block on rules that require states to verify mail-ballot recipients through barcoded envelopes tied to state voter lists.
North Carolina began mailing absentee ballots Friday, becoming the first state to send out ballots for the November 3 general election. The timing puts the legal dispute squarely in the path of election season, with the Supreme Court positioned to act within days.
The dispute traces back to an executive order President Trump signed in March directing federal agencies to tighten requirements on mail voting. Under the system the Postal Service later developed, states submit information identifying voters receiving mail ballots, and outbound and return envelopes carry unique barcodes tied to that information. Postal officials can then check ballot mail against state voter lists before delivery.
The final rule took effect August 21 and was published in the Federal Register on August 26. This is the second time the dispute has reached the Supreme Court in under two weeks.
In June, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston blocked portions of the executive order. The Supreme Court lifted that injunction on August 24, finding problems with the states' standing and the timing of a lawsuit filed before the Postal Service had issued its final rule. The justices left states free to return to court once a final regulation existed -- which they quickly did.
Talwani issued another temporary order on August 27 blocking the rule for 14 days, finding challengers were likely to succeed on their constitutional claims and raising concerns about forcing major changes to state election procedures as voting was about to begin. The administration appealed to the First Circuit, then filed its emergency application with the Supreme Court without waiting for the appeals court to rule.
The challenged system is straightforward. States would report basic voter information -- name and home address -- for every mail ballot distributed. Ballot envelopes would carry unique barcodes, and postal workers would deliver ballots only to voters appearing on the state-provided lists.
The administration argues the safeguards are a modest, reasonable exercise of the Postal Service's authority over the mail it carries. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices the rule plainly does not seize control of states' administration of elections and instead imposes reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail.
Opponents -- a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general and voting groups -- call the system a federal power grab that could keep legitimate ballots from reaching eligible voters. They warn that errors in names, addresses, or barcodes could lead to valid ballots being rejected. A whistleblower alleged this week that flaws in the developing system could cause compliant ballots to be rejected alongside ballots containing errors, with one barcode mistake potentially sinking an entire batch.
Whether the system is even ready to operate became a major theme at a Thursday hearing. Talwani pressed a Justice Department lawyer on the online portal states would need to use to submit voter information, and the government could not confirm the entire system was operational. The judge later described the rollout as an experiment to see whether the system could work during a live election.
A Postal Service official said in a court filing that the agency is continuing to refine the portal, and a version could become available next week for states that voluntarily choose to use it. As of Thursday, no state had opted in, though the government maintains that participation is voluntary and that states using the federal mail system must comply with its rules.
North Carolina, for its part, proceeded with mailing ballots Friday. The Postal Service had already approved the state's envelope design, and election officials there are monitoring the litigation.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters from the First Circuit, directed the rule's opponents to respond by 10 a.m. Eastern on September 8. That timetable positions the Supreme Court to rule within days -- well ahead of the temporary block's September 10 expiration.
Courts have generally been reluctant to force significant changes to election procedures close to voting day, and that principle hangs over the application as more states prepare to send ballots through September. If the justices grant the administration's request, the Postal Service can begin enforcing its voter-list and barcode requirements as ballots go out. If the block stays in place, states continue operating under their existing procedures while the courts weigh whether the federal government has authority to impose the new system.
Either way, the ruling will shape how mail ballots are handled in the first midterm election since the executive order -- and set the stage for the larger legal fight over how far Washington can go in securing the mail-in voting process.
The Justice Department asks the Supreme Court to clear the way for new Postal Service safeguards that verify mail-ballot recipients, just as North Carolina becomes the first state to send out ballots for the November election.
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