[UPDATE] Mail ballots will move under pre-2026 rules on Nov. 3 as the administration stands down

Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the administration will comply, leaving voting procedures unchanged across roughly 10,000 local jurisdictions for the Nov. 3 midterms.

The Supreme Court refused on Monday, Sept. 14 to lift the nationwide injunction against the Postal Service's ballot-acceptance rule. Absentee-voting rules stay unchanged for the Nov. 3 midterms. Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that altering ballot delivery rules 50 days before an election would invite administrative chaos. The reaction. Trump criticized Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett on Truth Social, calling the trio a “shell of their original selves.” The three joined the majority to reject the emergency stay, over dissents from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The operations. The Postal Service reaffirmed it will not activate its planned Federal Ballot Mail Portal this cycle. Clerks keep processing ballots under pre-2026 standards. Alabama, North Carolina, and Wisconsin had already begun mailing general-election ballots before the Court acted. Where it stands. Judge Indira Talwani's injunction out of Massachusetts stays in force through the election. The underlying challenge, brought by 23 states and Washington, D.C., goes to a full hearing on the merits.

PREVIOUSLY

Sept. 2 — Justice Department sued a 20,000-student Kansas City district over parental notification policies, launching a planned series of federal challenges.
Sept. 8 — Justice Department redirected its civil rights election monitors to pursue voter fraud cases, seeking 1,000 monitors nationwide.
Sept. 15 — Supreme Court voted 7-2 to keep Postal Service mail-ballot restrictions blocked after a federal judge found no statutory basis for the rules.

Why this ruling leaves election mail unchanged:

Portal inactive: the Federal Ballot Mail Portal required to authenticate county mailings was never launched, meaning processing plants have no new mechanism to enforce.
Jurisdictional dissent: Justice Samuel Alito argued the lawsuit was brought in the wrong venue, noting postal statutes channel regulatory reviews to the D.C. Circuit.
Future litigation: Judge Talwani's preliminary injunction carries no formal sunset, leaving the rule legally in place but dormant until a full merits trial.

Justice Department orders 29 states to preserve 2024 election records

Litigation-hold notices freeze local ballots and registration files as the federal 22-month retention window lapses.

SEMI-RELATED

Whistleblower claims Homeland Security voter probe sidesteps court injunction

USCIS staff allegedly conducted manual searches on state voter portals following court blocks on the SAVE database.