Red states aren’t giving up on Trump’s anti-mail voting order 

By Alexandra Hutzler

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CITY OF INDUSTRY, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 05: Election workers process vote by mail ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center after the midterm elections on November 5, 2026 in City of Industry, California. Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass conceded defeat today as City Councilwoman Nithya Raman widened her lead to claim victory in the Los Angeles mayoral race. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Twelve red states are appealing a federal judge’s injunction against key parts of President Donald Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order, including a U.S. Postal Service rule that would impose new restrictions on mail ballots.

Filed in Washington, D.C., Thursday, the appeal marks the first major movement in the case since the midterm elections, in which Democrats flipped control of Congress and swept into offices across the country, despite Trump’s repeated attempts to subvert the results. 

Now, the 12 states — Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas — are appealing the case to try to push Trump’s order forward.

In September, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump, issued a preliminary injunction against the rule in a challenge by Democrats* and civil rights groups, who allege the restrictions constitute an unconstitutional power grab.

Nichols’ order barred states from voluntarily working to implement the USPS rule, which would require states to upload a list of approved mail voters to a new government portal and redesign ballot envelopes with trackable barcodes. If states did not meet the requirements, USPS said it would not deliver ballots to their voters.

Nichols said USPS likely overstepped its authority in issuing the rule. He also criticized the Trump administration’s argument that the changes were needed for election security, noting it had yet to provide the courts with evidence of widespread fraud.

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately stopped Trump’s order on mail ballots from going into effect for this year’s midterms, with a majority of justices declining to revive the USPS changes. 

The legal fight over it now returns to the lower courts. 

In a separate case out of Massachusetts, prominent voting rights groups and 24 blue-state attorneys general are also challenging the USPS rule. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction in September barring the Trump administration from requiring states to comply with the USPS restrictions as litigation continues. 

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the plaintiffs in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.