Washington, Aug 29 (V7N) – A US federal judge has once again blocked President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting, issuing a temporary injunction just days before the first ballots are due to be sent out for the November midterm elections .

US District Court Judge Indira Talwani placed a 14-day hold on the implementation of the directive on Thursday, ruling that it would be "practically impossible" for states to comply with the new requirements in time . The order would have required states to provide lists of eligible voters to the US Postal Service (USPS) and mandated specific ballot formatting, with USPS refusing to deliver ballots from non-compliant states .

"Plaintiff States have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms," Talwani wrote in her ruling .

The decision marks the latest twist in a legal battle that has been back-and-forth over the past week. The Supreme Court's conservative majority had overturned an earlier block on Monday, ruling that legal challenges had been filed prematurely before USPS issued its final implementing rule . After the USPS published its final rule on August 21, Democratic-led states and voting rights groups promptly refiled their lawsuits, leading to Talwani's new injunction .

The judge noted that the record "continues to lack any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting" . A 2025 Brookings Institution report found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases per 10 million mail ballots cast .

New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading one of the lawsuits filed by two dozen Democratic attorneys general, praised the ruling: "This rule is a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control. Today, a federal court halted it before this administration could wreak havoc on our elections" .

The administration has signaled it will appeal, likely sending the case back to the Supreme Court . A hearing on a longer-term injunction is scheduled for September 3, just one day before the first states must send mail-in ballots to military and overseas voters .

The ruling comes as polls show Trump's Republican Party faces a serious threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in the November midterms, particularly in the House of Representatives. The president has long criticized mail-in voting, which he has falsely claimed is vulnerable to widespread fraud, despite using the method himself to cast his ballot in Florida's Republican primary .

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