WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order from President Donald Trump that could dramatically change mail-in voting ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department asked the justices to halt for now lower court<\/a> decisions blocking the sweeping changes<\/a> in nearly half the country. <\/p>\n The request comes shortly after Trump delivered a primetime address<\/a> elevating his yearslong push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of elections, and could be one of several voting-related challenges before the court ahead of the high-stakes midterm contest. <\/p>\n Trump ordered the government in March to create a \u201cstate citizenship list\u201d of eligible voters and deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.<\/p>\n Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued, saying the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election rules, not the president<\/a>. Their attorneys have said Trump\u2019s proposed changes are ripe for abuse and could cause chaos.<\/p>\n A judge in Massachusetts blocked the executive order for the plaintiff states, and a divided 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel left her ruling in place over the weekend.<\/p>\n The executive order calls for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to send state officials federal citizenship lists to determine eligible voters. It tells the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on the lists. <\/p>\n The order also calls for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking. Federal funding could be withheld from states and localities that don\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n The appeal argues that Trump\u2019s order lays out \u201cgeneral policy guidance\u201d and doesn\u2019t directly dictate how states run their elections. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to freeze the judge\u2019s order as lawsuits play out, calling it indefensible.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the injunction is especially indefensible because the agencies are still deliberating over how (if at all) to implement the Order, yet the district court preemptively decided that whatever the agencies may choose to do will necessarily be unlawful,\u201d Sauer wrote.<\/p>\n He urged the high court to move quickly, arguing that any new policies would have to be in place as soon as August to be effective for the November elections. A response to the appeal is due Aug. 3.<\/p>\n Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump<\/a>, even as he has used the method<\/a> to cast his own votes. He has blamed it for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden<\/a> in 2020 and has claimed without evidence that it opens the door to fraud. He returned to that theme Monday during an appearance<\/a> at a General Motors facility in Michigan as he was making an appeal for Congress to pass his voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd hopefully there will be no mail-in ballots,\u201d he said, calling them \u2018inherently corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n Using mail ballots has become increasingly popular<\/a> with voters of both parties, with about 30% of all ballots cast that way during the 2024 presidential election, according to federal data. The process also is secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study<\/a> found only about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court has ruled against the Trump administration before on mail-in ballots, finding in June that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day. <\/p>\n Trump has promoted the proposed changes in his executive order as safeguards to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting. He\u2019s also repeatedly pressed for<\/a> the passage of the legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote. <\/p>\n Noncitizen voting has been shown to be rare<\/a>, and is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.<\/p>\n U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed in June<\/a> to halt implementation for the Nov. 3 elections.<\/p>\n