WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service took another step Thursday in implementing a Trump administration policy to restrict mail-in voting, even as a high-stakes legal battle plays out and midterm elections approach.
The agency published an FAQ about its new rule that compels states to send their voter rolls to the federal government and only deliver mail ballots to voters who match federal citizenship data. The rule also updates standards for mail ballots that states have said would be difficult to implement before the Nov. 3 elections that will determine the balance of Congress.
The controversial rule, which two dozen Democratic states and voting rights groups are challenging in federal court, increases the federal government’s role in elections and voting.
The states have argued the rule violates the U.S. Constitution, which grants them the power of administering elections.
In a Thursday brief defending the rule, the U.S. Justice Department said it only contained “modest improvements and modernizations of the Postal Service’s infrastructure” and would have minimal effect on states’ election administration.
“The Rule does not displace a single State election law,” the brief said. “And it need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail.”
Democrat-led states and voting rights groups re-filed lawsuits Wednesday to block the Trump administration from executing the rule after a Supreme Court ruling Monday that temporarily greenlit the policy on procedural grounds.
USPS acknowledged pending litigation in the FAQ, and noted it would make any changes spurred by the suits.
Republicans, including Trump, have long made the accusation that noncitizens vote in federal elections, which multiple studies have shown occurs rarely.
On Thursday, Trump said he believed states could implement the new rule, even in North Carolina where ballots are set to be mailed next week.
“North Carolina is great,” Trump said. “And they do some mail-in ballots. But basically they ruled on the legitimacy and the way we want to make them legitimate. And it was a great ruling for the Republicans.”
Those states suing to block the rule are California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia.
Jennifer Shutt contributed to this story.
