A coalition of 23 states, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging a newly finalized U.S. Postal Service rule that restricts the delivery and handling of mail-in ballots.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, follows the formal publication of the USPS rule, “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections,” in the Federal Register on August 26, 2026.
The new regulations establish federal requirements for state ballot mail, including the enrollment of eligible mail-in voters into a centralized USPS database, pre-approval of ballot envelope designs, and trackable barcode mandates. Under the rule, ballots that fail to meet these federal specifications will not be delivered to voters.
The legal action comes just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an earlier injunction against President Donald Trump’s underlying executive order, finding that the states’ previous legal challenge was premature before the Postal Service had issued a final regulation.
“With the publication of a new regulation, crafted at the President’s behest just before the midterm elections, the United States Postal Service (‘USPS’) has purportedly granted itself the authority to regulate mail voting in federal elections,” the states wrote in their complaint. “That includes the authority to monitor and control which voters will receive a mail ballot from state and local election officials, and to task those same officials with new election administration procedures.”
The plaintiffs argue that the regulation violates the U.S. Constitution’s Elections and Electors Clauses, which place the primary responsibility for election administration with individual state legislatures. They also contend the rule exceeds the statutory authority granted to the Postal Service under the Postal Reorganization Act, violates the universal mail service mandate, bypasses required procedural reviews before the Postal Regulatory Commission, and conflicts with both the Voting Rights Act and the Privacy Act.
“Congress has not afforded USPS any authority whatsoever to set rules for federal elections or mail voting, even though Americans have cast ballots by mail for generations,” the complaint states.
According to the filing, the last-minute rule threatens immediate operational disruption and voter disenfranchisement ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. The states assert that local election offices face costly, immediate burdens to redesign envelopes, purchase specialized tracking equipment, and upload millions of voter records to the federal portal on compressed timelines.
The lawsuit names the United States Postal Service, Postmaster General David Steiner, Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino, and members of the USPS Board of Governors as defendants. The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction staying the effective date of the rule and declaring the regulation unlawful and void.
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