TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The battle over new rules for voting by mail continues to play out in court with midterm elections just nine weeks away.<\/p>\n
A federal judge in Boston issued a two week stay halting President Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a> on mail in ballots on Thursday. That decision was appealed by the Trump administration<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a 14 day stay that gets us to the point of no return. Frankly we\u2019re there already,\u201d Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said. <\/p>\n Earley said the new postal service rules primarily deal with envelopes used to mail out and return ballots and the bar codes that are used to track them. <\/p>\n Earley said Leon County is compliant with most of the rules already, but it\u2019ll be impossible for some counties to pivot to new envelopes this quickly if the Executive Order sticks. <\/p>\n \u201cFor many counties in Florida and many states, it would be almost impossible for them at this point, this late in time, to comply with the rule,\u201d Early said. <\/p>\n Florida\u2019s mail ballots are scheduled to begin going out to voters on Sept. 24.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the courts are going to put this into place,\u201d Earley said. \u201cI think the courts will realize that this will disenfranchise tens of thousands, if not potentially hundreds of thousands or millions of voters. So, I really, really don\u2019t think this is going to have any impact in this election, except cause a lot of confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the case next, but it could end up back before the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> <\/a>and X<\/a> (Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n