The Trump administration got a big win this week for ballot and voter integrity that the president himself has been pushing for personally.
The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a new rule that could prevent the delivery of mail-in ballots in states that refuse to provide required voter information to the agency.
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The policy would require states to share voter and ballot-related data with USPS as part of new standards governing election mail in order to ensure that only citizens were receiving ballots.
States that decline to comply could face restrictions on the Postal Service’s acceptance and delivery of affected mail-in ballots.
The new rule, scheduled for official publication in the Federal Register on Aug. 26, would impose additional requirements on states using the U.S. Postal Service to distribute and receive mail-in and absentee ballots.
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Under the policy, participating states would be required to enroll voters using mail ballots on a new “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List.”
Election officials would also be required to place a unique tracking barcode on each outgoing ballot and its corresponding return ballot, creating a system designed to track election mail as it moves through the postal network.
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The rule, however, had been blocked ahead of the 2026 midterm elections because of a federal court injunction blocking its implementation.
But that changed on Monday.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a significant legal victory, allowing enforcement of President Trump’s executive order imposing new requirements on mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections.
The justices lifted a lower-court injunction that had prevented the administration from implementing the challenged provisions in 23 states that sued to block the order.
The states had argued that the administration exceeded its authority by attempting to impose new federal requirements on election procedures traditionally administered by state governments.
The Trump administration appealed the injunction in July, arguing that the measures were a lawful effort to strengthen election integrity and establish additional safeguards surrounding mail ballots.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the U.S. Postal Service and Justice Department said they would move immediately to implement the revised mail-ballot requirements, Fox News reported.
The decision clears a major legal obstacle for the administration just months before voters head to the polls in November.
Most immediately, the Supreme Court’s ruling clears the way for the U.S. Postal Service to cross-check the distribution of mail-in ballots against citizenship information maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.
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The decision also represents a significant victory for the Trump administration’s broader push to tighten rules surrounding mail voting ahead of the November midterms.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the widespread use of mail-in ballots, arguing that they create greater opportunities for irregularities, tampering and voter fraud.
Critics of the administration’s approach dispute those claims and argue that mail voting is secure when established safeguards are followed.
“You know, they don’t have voting booths; everything’s by mail. I don’t think a Republican can win in California unless you pass the Save America Act,” Trump told Fox News.
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He was referring to GOP legislation to narrow the scope of mail-in voting and voter-ID requirements.
“They’re going to have to get rid of mail-in voting,” he added.
Trump joined other conservatives in raising questions about the late-counted ballots in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, pointing to the large share of Democratic votes that went to Nithya Raman after election night.
The president characterized the delayed surge in support as suspicious and used it to reinforce his broader criticism of mail-in voting.
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Trump’s executive order sought to impose additional safeguards intended to remove uncertainty over eligibility in federal elections.
Titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” the order directed federal agencies to develop citizenship-based information that could be used to verify voter eligibility.
It also instructed the U.S. Postal Service to restrict the distribution of mail-in ballots to voters appearing on approved eligibility lists, making citizenship verification a central component of the administration’s effort to tighten mail-voting procedures.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
