Rubber meets the road in mail-in ballot fight

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The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 3, 2026

The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 3, 2026

Crunch time for mail-in voting 

GOP-approved map blocked in Missouri 

House slashes its September schedule 

Remembering Gloria Steinem 

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Time is quickly running short on the Trump administration’s ability to implement President Trump’s push to restrict mail-in ballots as his executive order remains mired in a court battle. 

The midterm voting period officially kicks off today as election officials in North Carolina  can start sending out mail-in ballots to voters who request them, under state law. 

The state elections board has a special meeting planned for 9 a.m. to discuss possible new guidance on mail-in voting but so far hasn’t released the potential rules changes that it’s considering. 

That caused frustration from North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D), who called on the board to “get it together.” 

“No one should have to ask these questions less than 48 hours before absentee ballots are mailed out,” he said in a post on the social platform X. 

Still, state elections board spokesperson Jason Tyson told Carolina Public Press on Thursday that they have “no current plans” to use the portal that the Postal Service has set up for carrying out the order. 

The administration is currently appealing a federal judge’s ruling blocking it from moving forward with voting restrictions at least for one more week. The Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift the block. 

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who issued the two-week pause, separately held a hearing Thursday to determine whether to block the plan indefinitely. She hasn’t issued a ruling yet. 

At issue is whether the U.S. Postal Service can carry out a rule from Trump’s order directing that mail-in ballots only be sent to people on a list of eligible voters provided by states to the federal government. Under Trump’s order, the Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots to those not on the list or ballots that don’t meet certain design requirements, including unique barcodes for tracking. 

But while the legal battle has bounced from court to court, the window has been closing on the time needed to implement the order even if the courts were to uphold it.  

Today marks 60 days before Election Day — the same number of days in advance that states would have to have submitted their voter lists by under Trump’s executive order.  

While North Carolina is the only state that could send ballots as soon as today — another 18 states start sending ballots around 45 days before an election — this 60-day timeline affects even the states that don’t plan to send out their mail-in ballots for another month.  

That would likely require the Postal Service to adjust its policy if the order were to be upheld, and even then, the time to carry all this out would be extremely limited. 

Courts also tend to be hesitant about making major changes to election administration too close to Election Day unless an urgent situation warrants it. 

The Postal Service also appears to be dealing with other logistical difficulties toward implementing the order beyond the court battles. A whistleblower report released earlier this week cast doubt about the functionality of the portal that was created to help carry out the order. 

The whistleblower alleged the system has many flaws because of its “rushed” development, which included the elimination of a standard testing period. 

▪ Bloomberg: Why Trump’s war on mail-in........

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