Judge blocks Trump mail-in voting restriction!
Washington, Aug 27 (EFE).-
A federal judge in the United States on Thursday again temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict mail-in voting, saying its implementation could disenfranchise thousands of voters just over two months before the November midterm elections.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday against a previous injunction issued by Judge Indira Talwani that blocked the measure based on a premature challenge. At the time, the U.S. Postal Service had not yet published the final rules governing the upcoming election.
On Thursday, Talwani issued another order blocking part of the now-final rule, finding that it would be “practically impossible” to comply with it before the midterm elections.
The order bars the U.S. Postal Service for 14 days from enforcing the challenged requirements concerning the format of mail-in ballot envelopes and voter information. It also directs the Justice Department to notify postal officials within 24 hours that they must comply with the temporary restriction.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by 23 states and the District of Columbia, along with the governor of Pennsylvania, challenging the USPS final rule, as well as lawsuits by civil rights organizations against Trump’s March executive order.
The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.
Trump’s executive order conditions the mailing of ballots to voters who appear on a list prepared in advance by federal agencies. The order is currently facing multiple legal challenges in courts across the country.
Citing the need to prevent election fraud, Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security in March to compile lists of U.S. citizens of voting age in each of the 50 states and directed the Postal Service to prepare another list of eligible voters who can receive ballots by mail.
Analysts and experts consider cases of election fraud in the United States to be insignificant. EFE
lfp/lds
