Federal court blocks mandatory USPS ballot-mail rules for 2026 election
The preliminary injunction prevents the Postal Service from enforcing new ballot-envelope and voter-data requirements as North Carolina begins mailing absentee ballots.
RALEIGH — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the United States Postal Service from enforcing mandatory portions of a new ballot-mail rule during the Nov. 3 midterm election, granting relief sought by North Carolina and other states.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the preliminary injunction Friday, the same day North Carolina’s county election boards began mailing absentee ballots to eligible voters who requested them.
The ruling prohibits USPS from requiring state and local election officials to comply with new ballot-envelope design, approval and voter-data requirements before the Postal Service will handle their ballots. States may comply voluntarily when permitted under their own laws, but USPS cannot make compliance a condition of carrying election mail during the 2026 election.
The new rule would have required election officials to submit ballot and return-envelope designs to USPS for approval. Officials also would have been required to upload voter information through a Postal Service portal before ballots could be mailed.
Under the rule, USPS could decline to handle ballots when election officials had not obtained envelope approval, uploaded voter information or included required identifying barcodes.
Talwani wrote that implementing the system fewer than 70 days before the election threatened to disenfranchise voters. The court found that state and local officials were already carrying out voter registration, ballot preparation, poll-worker training and other election responsibilities.
The court also cited evidence that the required electronic portal was not operational and that printing redesigned ballot materials ordinarily could take four to 16 weeks.
North Carolina was among 23 states and the District of Columbia that had challenged the underlying executive order directing USPS to develop the restrictions. After USPS issued its final rule in August, the states renewed their legal challenge.
The judge found that the immediate implementation of the mandatory provisions threatened mail voters while the record contained no evidence of mail-voting fraud sufficient to justify the accelerated rollout.
The injunction applies to the Nov. 3 election. It does not prohibit USPS from implementing the rule for later elections while the broader legal challenges proceed.
North Carolina became the first state to begin sending absentee ballots for the 2026 general election. Under state election guidance, completed civilian absentee ballots must reach the voter’s county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
Editor’s note:
This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.
