TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A second federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service not to implement new vote-by-mail rules from the White House.<\/p>\n
The D.C. judge made the ruling late Sunday night<\/a>, and it is welcome news to Leon County\u2019s supervisor of elections. <\/p>\n Mark Earley said the rules would be nearly impossible to follow with such short time until November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n The rules require election officials to use new web portals, databases and envelope requirements, among other things. Earley said he\u2019s not aware of any such portals live for Florida election officials to use right now. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know how to upload it. We don\u2019t have user access to upload it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe system that would receive the uploads and disseminate that information all throughout the post office has not been designed or tested. There\u2019s been no input from election officials across the nation, all with different file structures and things like that. This is just a catastrophe waiting to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n More Tallahassee news:<\/p>\n Despite his fears, Earley said he has been clear when talking to voters. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been telling my voters, because a lot have been calling about this, that I am very confident that the mail ballot process will be handled exactly like it was in the 2024 elections,\u201d Earley said. \u201cThat none of this will be implemented. I do have very hard and fast logistical problems that prevent this from happening anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The Supreme Court is poised to make the final call, so Earley is doing what he can to try to comply just in case.<\/p>\n He submitted the vote-by-mail envelope to a USPS design official, as would be required by the new rule. The official rejected the design, used in Leon County since 2024. <\/p>\n Earley said the \u201creturn service requested\u201d line on the envelope was fractions of an inch too close to the return address. He successfully appealed that issue. <\/p>\n \u201cWith this rule barreling towards everyone here potentially and it being fought in the courts, in some ways it was almost good to be able to have an example for the world out there, at least for the nation, of why this rule had severe problems, just basic logistical problems,\u201d he added. <\/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