US judge blocks Trump voter list order before 2026 midterm elections

Boston,UPDATED: Jun 26, 2026 00:54 IST

A federal judge in the US on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and restrict who can receive a mail ballot, handing a setback to the administration ahead of this year’s midterm election cycle.

US District Judge Indira Talwani, ruling in Boston, sided with a coalition of nearly two dozen states that challenged the order. It was the second court ruling in as many days against Trump’s election-related executive orders, after a separate order requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration was stopped on Wednesday.

In two lawsuits filed in federal court in Boston, the plaintiffs argued that the order was unconstitutional because states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. Talwani agreed, saying the parts of the order that sought to create a federal list of eligible voters and use the US Postal Service to decide who can receive a mail ballot were “legally void” because they “unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers”. Her ruling applies to this year’s midterm elections.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes welcomed the decision. “Millions of independents, Republicans and Democrats across Arizona have voted by mail for decades,” she said in a statement, adding that nearly 80 per cent of ballots in the state are cast that way. Mayes said military families, voters in rural parts of the state and Native Americans voting from tribal lands would have been affected. “Donald Trump’s executive order targeted all of these voters,” she said. “But today, the courts affirmed what the Constitution makes clear: States run their elections, not the President.”

The White House defended the order and indicated that the administration would appeal. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the order “lawfully protects our elections, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail in its implementation”. In its bid to dismiss the lawsuits, the administration argued that the challenges were premature and that the plaintiffs lacked a legal basis to sue under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

But in an interim order issued before Thursday’s ruling, Talwani said the challenge related to this year’s election cycle could not wait. “In light of the EO’s specific deadlines over the next three months, and the reality that elections will be occurring throughout this period with the November 3, 2026 midterm occurring in just five months, postponing judicial review is impracticable and may inflict significant hardship on Plaintiffs,” she wrote, while denying the administration’s motion to dismiss.

Trump issued the order in March after a bill he backed to overhaul voting stalled in Congress. The measure would have required the federal government, through the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters. It also directed the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on that list. Election officials said the plan could be abused and create chaos. The Postal Service has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register, though it would not apply to primary elections or overseas ballots.

Postal Service workers also pushed back, saying they were not equipped to decide who is eligible to vote in each state. After the order was issued last spring, the Rural Letter Carriers’ Association said putting its members in that position “risks politicising one of the nation’s most trusted public institutions”. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, whose state was among the plaintiffs, said the order showed Trump was trying to “abuse power in previously unthinkable ways” to interfere in elections. She said it “strains credulity” to think the Postal Service could build a workable system to pre-screen voters for mail ballots, calling it “a shocking violation of American constitutional rights”. The Postal Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

The lawsuit decided on Thursday was brought by Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia, along with lawyers for Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, where the attorney general is a Republican. The states said the order would place a costly burden on election officials and spread fear about possible prosecution, although Stephen Pezzi, a lawyer for the administration, argued that no one would be prosecuted for violating it. A separate case before Talwani, filed by the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups, is also seeking to block the order. In another case in Washington, DC, a federal judge in May agreed with the administration that it was too early to stop the order because it had not yet been implemented; that decision has been appealed.

Thursday’s ruling leaves Trump’s order on voter lists and mail ballots blocked for this year’s midterm cycle, while the administration prepares to challenge the decision and multiple legal cases over the measure continue.

With PTI Inputs

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