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A U.S. federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order Thursday curbing the use of mail-in ballots, the latest twist in a legal dispute months before November’s midterm elections.
Trump signed the order in March seeking to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterms, but it was immediately met with multiple legal challenges.
Democratic-led states sued the administration, arguing that under the U.S. Constitution, states, not the federal government, retain broad control over the administration of elections.
The ruling came three days after the Supreme Court lifted a lower court decision that had blocked the directive, prompting a fresh legal challenge from Democratic states.
Trump’s executive order would require the compilation of lists of eligible voters and instruct the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on those lists.
District Court Judge Indira Talwani wrote Thursday that it was “practically impossible” for states to comply with the “likely unconstitutional regulation,” noting that the midterms are a little more than two months away.
“Most Plaintiff States have already ordered their mail ballots, and some are required by state law to send them to eligible voters as early as next week,” Talwani wrote.
Trump has long criticized mail-in ballots but has frequently used them himself, including this month when he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary.
The president has for years claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is highly vulnerable to fraud.
He has repeatedly linked the claim to his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him by Democrat Joe Biden.
Talwani said in Thursday’s ruling that “the record continues to lack any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting.”
Local media reported that the Trump administration would likely appeal the ruling.
Polls show Trump’s Republican Party faces a serious threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in the November midterms, particularly in the House of Representatives.
If Democrats win control, they have signaled they would block Trump’s agenda and could move to impeach him for a third time.
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