Today, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit challenging an unlawful United States Postal Service (USPS) rule claiming to grant USPS the authority to regulate vote-by-mail ballots in elections.
Tens of millions of voters across the country rely on mail-in ballots. The USPS rule will prevent states from effectively administering their mail voting programs by requiring states to implement new and burdensome procedures with just weeks to go before they begin sending mail ballots, putting voters at risk of being disenfranchised right before this year’s midterm elections.
“Under our Constitution, states run elections—not the federal government, and definitely not the postal service,” said Attorney General Davenport. “The USPS’s new rule purports to restrict mail-in voting by implementing new and convoluted postal procedures with just weeks to go before election officials begin sending out mail-in ballots. We are confident the courts will block this latest unconstitutional attempt by the Trump Administration to interfere with the states’ administration of free and fair elections.”
Since the inception of vote-by-mail, Congress has limited it, and in fact, has only taken action to expand and protect mail voting for military and overseas voters. Congress has also never authorized USPS to monitor or control the transmission of mail ballots.
In March 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters. It also directed the USPS to implement new rules under which it would refuse to deliver ballot mail for voters not on a USPS-maintained list and to create new ballot mail design and tracking standards.
In June, following a prior multistate coalition lawsuit, a court held that major provisions of President Trump’s Executive Order were unconstitutional. Among other things, the court’s order barred the USPS from completing rulemaking to establish the mailing procedures directed by the Executive Order. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed that order on August 24.
On August 21, USPS finalized a new rule implementing the President’s demands that states must register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and coordinate with USPS to compile state-specific lists of registered voters. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes, which states are required to meet and get pre-approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-generated lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that do not comply with the rule’s new standards.
Attorney General Davenport and the coalition argue the rule inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing new and burdensome requirements for mail-in voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. With the start of the general election season mere weeks away, state election officials must develop new systems to communicate mail voter lists to USPS to ensure that every eligible voter who is entitled to a mail ballot receives one. States must also create new guidance for election officials, train them on the new procedures, and educate the public about the changes prior to the upcoming election. States must also bear the cost of redesigning their mail ballot envelopes and securing USPS review and approval before they can register mail voters with USPS.
Even if states were to meet these enormous administrative and financial burdens, the rule could still result in eligible voters not receiving their ballots due to, for instance, administrative errors or flaws in implementing rushed and untested new procedures with just weeks to go before states must begin mailing millions of mail ballots to eligible voters across the country.
Over the past several decades, voting by mail has become more popular across the country. Voters of all parties, in all states, and of every demographic utilize mail-in voting, including President Trump himself. In the 2024 general election, more than 840,000 New Jerseyans—representing 19.5% of the voters in that election—cast vote-by-mail ballots.
The coalition argues that USPS’s rule violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections, and upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures. The lawsuit argues the rule is inconsistent with USPS’s governing statutes, ignores USPS’s procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and is inconsistent with federal voting rights law. The coalition asks the court to strike down the unlawful rule and issue a temporary restraining order preventing the rule from taking effect while the litigation proceeds.
This USPS rule is the latest unlawful attempt by President Trump to exert federal control over elections and seize states’ constitutional authority to administer elections.
Joining Attorney General Davenport in filing this lawsuit, which was co-led by the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
