With the midterm elections less than three months away, efforts to restrict access to the ballot box — efforts that could have major ramifications for Black voters — continue.
A federal judge on Sept. 4 prevented the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing the Trump administration’s new rules during the upcoming November elections, prompting the administration on Sept. 6 to return to the U.S. Supreme Court.
For months, civil rights groups have condemned the administration’s efforts, warning that they could disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.
“Mail-in voting, which has been used by the president, is a secure, vital lifeline for millions of citizens — particularly Black voters, working families, elderly residents, and rural communities who already face immense systemic barriers at the ballot box,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in June.
He highlighted that Black elderly voters are among those who are more likely to rely on mail voting. Others include voters who are disabled or serving abroad in the military.
What did the justices say?
At the center of the dispute is Trump’s executive order directing the Postal Service to send mail ballots only to people on the lists of eligible voters that the administration would create.
A coalition of Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued the administration, arguing that only the states and Congress have the constitutional power to determine how elections are run, not the president.
The Supreme Court on Aug. 24 said that the lawsuit was filed too quickly, before it was clear what harm might arise from the administration’s plan. However, the court stressed that the decision doesn’t mean that Trump will ultimately be able to implement his plan.
“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell,” the conservative majority wrote.
In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued that the administration might essentially be trying to “game the system” and highlighted that the midterms are right around the corner.
“The court has held for a while now that even valid election-related legal claims can come too late,” Jackson wrote. “Today’s revelation is that such claims can also come too early — never mind that an election is looming and related harms are presently occurring.”
Since then, the dispute has gone back to the Supreme Court, following U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s extension of an injunction blocking the Postal Service from enforcing the new rules during the midterms.
What does the order mean for voters right now?
The back-and-forth could inject greater chaos into the voting landscape, given that there’s little time before the midterms and election officials in some states have already sent out ballots.
Further court challenges could also run into a principle that generally discourages changing election rules too close to an election. The U.S. Department of Justice is likely to invoke that principle as the midterms draw closer.
Jackson explicitly acknowledged this uncertainty in her dissent.
“This ruling violates well-established precedents concerning this Court’s equitable discretion and needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections,” Jackson wrote. “It also lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges.”
While Election Day is still weeks away, some ballots have already gone out. North Carolina has begun mailing them. Alabama is expected to follow on Sept. 9. Other states will do the same in the days ahead.
Restrictions on mail voting could especially affect Black voters who are elderly or disabled, as well as those serving overseas in the military. In 2024, The Washington Post profiled Joyce King, an 81-year-old Black woman living in a Philadelphia nursing facility who relied on mail voting. And the year before, the Mississippi Free Press wrote about William Earl Whitley, a Black disabled U.S. Army veteran who relied on neighbors to help to mail his absentee ballot.
What happens next?
More litigation.
Black elected officials have signaled that they’re prepared to keep pushing back against the administration’s efforts.
The Congressional Black Caucus condemned Monday’s order, saying that Trump would use it “to further disenfranchise voters” and promising to pursue voting rights legislation and election reforms if Democrats regain control of Congress.
“Our presence at the ballot box must overwhelm any effort to cheat,” the CBC said. “We must become too big to rig.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James echoed that determination to keep fighting, saying that “the right to vote is sacred” and that “no administration” should be allowed to endanger it.
“This decision is a painful setback, but it will not be the final word,” she said. “This fight is far from over. We are exploring our legal options.”
This story has been updated.
