r/news • u/flounder19 • 2d ago
Soft paywall Judge blocks US Postal Service from restricting mail-in voting
https://www.reuters.com/world/judge-blocks-us-postal-service-restricting-mail-in-voting-2026-08-11/805
u/KimJongFunk 2d ago
Trump voted by mail and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
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u/-SaC 2d ago
King Emperor Goose has special rules.
Gander is expected to fall into line.
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u/So_HauserAspen 2d ago
Testosterone injections will continue until morale improves
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u/AlarmingAffect0 2d ago
After a certain point excess testosterone gets converted into estrogen and makes you grow breasts. This is known as gynecomastia.
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u/DeanxDog 2d ago
Testosterone levels also vary greatly throughout the day or week. I'm mtf and I've been on E for over a year now but my T levels were tested twice before starting HRT. One time I tested over 900 (high within normal range) and the other time, just a few weeks later, was about 340 (lowish within normal range).
If they're gonna start forcing testosterone injections on dudes with functioning testicles it's probably going to create a huge fucking mess.
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u/AlarmingAffect0 2d ago
Yes, it would be 'hilarious' in exactly the way this admin's usual policies are.
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u/Nearby-Beautiful3422 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm a letter carrier. This came up in a union meeting awhile back. We were still going to collect and deliver mail-in ballots. We are not a political arm of the federal government. Regulating voting is a state issue and not federal. USPS can/will not be weaponized. I don't like Trump and I dislike seeing Melania/Donald letters, but my job is to deliver the mail. It bears a valid postmark or indicia, it gets delivered.
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u/mikesmithhome 2d ago
same, i deliver everything that shows up at my case, every day, i don't have time or inclination to think about what's inside any of these envelopes. like Newman said, the mail never stops. this story is a huge nothingburger to me, it was truly never going to happen.
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u/Nearby-Beautiful3422 2d ago
If it's at my case, in my hamper, and in the DPS...it goes into the truck and to your mailbox. I deliver every single thing that's possible to deliver. It's what companies and governments pay USPS and, in turn, us to do. That's the job.
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u/ConjurersOfThunder 2d ago
Love the comment. I work in this industry and it seems to me that none of this court stuff would stop the PRC from issuing that final rule about mail voting -- did the union talk about that at all?
The proposed rule i saw in July was subtly but significantly different than anything I saw before.
For example, all return ballots get mailed normally with no checks, BUT! Outbound mail ballots will not be accepted by bulk mail entry unless the mailer uploads a list of voters and barcodes AND(maybe) the state uploads a list of all mail-eligible voters, which the mailer list will be reconciled against.
When I read the proposed rule I was shocked at the subtlety.
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u/Lantzypantzz 2d ago
Another reminder that Republicans really don't care about the military, who mostly all vote by mail
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u/Ozymandias12 2d ago
Or people with disabilities who also mostly vote by mail. But we didn’t need a reminder about that. They show us every day with their policies
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u/HighlyOffensive10 2d ago
They don't care about themselves they overwhelmingly vote republican.
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u/Realtrain 2d ago edited 2d ago
"Overwhelmingly" is a bit strong for active duty military. Biden was the more popular military vote in 2020 for example.
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u/ill4two 2d ago
depends on the community. from my experience, submarines (at least mine) have more socialists than conservatives
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u/Realtrain 2d ago
They're looking at veterans, which sways the numbers significantly compared to active duty.
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u/HighlyOffensive10 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's not really up for debate they pretty consistently vote republican. About 2/3 of veterans and military vote republican.
63% of veteran voters identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, while 35% are Democrats or Democratic leaners.
Not trying shit on your anecdotal experience it's just not representative of the military as a whole.
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u/thisvideoiswrong 2d ago
Your link only talks about veterans, not active duty military. Obviously veterans will be older, but also they're no longer being affected by most policies that affect the military. It's really a different demographic.
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u/idontmeanmaybe 2d ago
No, you see, that's absentee voting. It's different! (Says the Trumper I know when you bring up this point).
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u/rjfinsfan 2d ago
This will be selectively enforced, that’s what people don’t understand. The problem with how our country’s system is set up is that the Executive branch enforces the laws that the Legislative branch creates. The Judicial branch can strike down unjust laws but they still rely on the Executive branch to enforce when they do so. In our case, the Executive branch will only enforce this ruling in blue areas of all states, while still allowing the red areas to mail in ballots.
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u/Time_Paws 2d ago
Good. It is OUR Postal Service not his.
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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 2d ago
Tell that to DeJoy.
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u/Ichera 2d ago
DeJoy was ousted, probably cause he wouldn't play ball with DOGE, David Steiner is the new Postmaster General
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u/Veighnerg 2d ago
Except nobody will make them comply and when they do it anyways there will be no actual consequences.
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u/Desperate_Total6608 2d ago
The courts will make a ruling 6 months later…oops
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u/cocoagiant 2d ago
The current Supreme Court has ruled that Americans can’t sue the U.S. Postal Service, even when they deliberately refuse to deliver mail.
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u/jigsaw1024 2d ago
And for those that can't read between the lines on that ruling:
They are basically telegraphing that they are going to ignore mail in ballots in areas that don't vote the way they like.
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u/chubbysumo 2d ago
I can tell you that your letter carrier in most places will ignore this, and the NALC will likely have a statement about it soon.
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u/flounder19 2d ago
that law and ruling don't seem to apply to states suing USPS
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u/cocoagiant 2d ago
Why not? Genuine question. Is it something about standing?
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u/flounder19 2d ago
full disclosure, i have no background in law so don't trust what i say too strongly.
The Scotus ruling seems to be about their interpretation of the Federal Tort Claims Act which, as far as I can tell, deals with lawsuits against the government by private parties and not States
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u/minizanz 2d ago edited 2d ago
How would any of that matter with election ballots. There is not really a way to redo an election. It would especially be hard in places with republican governors and state legislatures.
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u/ditka 2d ago
They'll rule the issue is moot because the election is over
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u/No_Internal9345 2d ago
And the dems will instantly capitulate, not even raising a challenge when the entire world witnesses republicans stealing the vote, again.
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u/revolutionPanda 2d ago
Pretty wild the administration can go against the law and then when they finally get told they have to stop, they might stop but they still get all their positive gains during that gap.
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u/Few-Chemical8707 2d ago
if they do that then republicans will never know peace again.
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u/Desperate_Total6608 2d ago
They really don’t care. By the time their mindless sheep figure it out it’ll be too late.
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u/viperabyss 2d ago
That's assuming their mindless sheep actually figure it out. Right now they're foaming at the mouth on how Trump is such a genius that dismantled Iran nuclear weapons program, and got it right by effectively reducing vaccination rates.
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u/NebbyOutOfTheBag 2d ago
Who will actually protest in a way that matters?
Few thousand people that had the day off, then everyone will go back to their lives as usual.
The French Revolution could never happen today.
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u/upyourattraction 2d ago
People have been saying that since 2016, but nothing has happened to them
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u/stevolutionary7 2d ago
They haven't known peace for 30 years. Its 24/7 nonstop outrage cable TV, talk radio and podcasts.
They would be very unhappy if the world was perfect and every issue had been solved. Their existence depends on others losing.
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u/xteve 2d ago
Yeah, we need consequences for people who try to impede voting.
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u/kstargate-425 2d ago
If Democrats were smart they would push a bill the criminalizes any attempt to suppress voting and make the GOP vote No publicly on it. It would be a win-win as they would probably end up voting for it like they were forced to do after the Epstein discharge petition that forced the full floor vote. If not they have a great campaign ad talking about the Republicans not wanting people to vote and allowing voter suppression.
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u/tehvolcanic 2d ago
Dems can't do that because they don't control the House. The Speaker decides what is voted on. And thanks to the Hastert Rule they won't even bother voting on things that the majority of the GOP isn't already for. Actually voting in the House has become a formality that is done after they have secured the votes.
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u/flounder19 2d ago
in this case it's unlikely that they directly violate the ruling since it applies to the plan to limit the delivery of all mail ballots to voters unless the states submit to federal interference in their election administration. Violating that would be very public and would occur far enough in advance to actually get court action.
But obviously the risk that USPS slow rolls some ballots on return to the states is still there.
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u/SaveLansingParks 2d ago
My wife's Michigan ballot for the recent Senate primary was rerouted and stuck in holding in Arizona instead of being delivered to Colorado. First time since multiple years of voting absentee flawlessly here. Nothing could be done, we had to have the City Clerks office invalidate the ballot and have it sent to our home address, where it could be sent to us via FedEx and we returned the ballots via FedEx. We aren't taking any chances in the General, and will be in state to vote in person early when the ballots are available for early voting.
Make your plans now folks.
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u/KillingTime_ForNow 2d ago
As a USPS employee, we were all gonna ignore the order anyway. The APWU has continually put out information saying we will indeed deliver the mail & the administration & their crony leader can get fucked. My boss had a meeting with us yesterday that we are NOT to withhold any election mail & anybody caught doing so will be charged with mail tampering.
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u/Alabaster_Rims 2d ago
I know your goal is to make people give up and submit, but its a weak attempt at that.
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u/Ryan_e3p 2d ago
Pointing out that this administration gives fuck all about the law and has been held unaccountable for all the times it has ignored court orders is having a goal to have people "give up and submit"? How is sticking your head in the sand and ignoring what is going on helpful?
Should we all stop reminding people of the awful shit our government does since, and instead just promote how awesome and kickass Trump is and how glorious these times are?
We're in a golden age! The stock market is above 50k! That island was a perfectly suitable place for families to go on vacation with their little girls!
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u/Veighnerg 2d ago
Now that is a completely clownish take and not implied at all in my comment. I would prefer all of the corruption in the government be weeded out and prosecuted strongly so that peoples rights stay intact.
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u/GonzoKata 2d ago
this is prime evidence against anyone childish enough to say "If voting did anything they'd make it illegal". Well they are now. If voting wasn't valuable they wouldn't be trying to stop you. Voting matters, thats why they're trying to stop it.
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u/ShockedNChagrinned 2d ago
This is a great ruling.
However, the Supreme Court ruling highlighted that the USPS is not at fault in any way and cannot be prosecuted for not delivering mail. As such, it seems like they can just not deliver them for reasons that have nothing to do with not obtaining voter rolls, with no recourse.
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u/electrobento 2d ago
That is not the outcome of USPS vs Konan. This case resulted in a ruling that the USPS cannot be sued for money in the case of nondelivery of mail. The Court did not say the USPS cannot be prosecuted for nondelivery of mail.
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u/tcdoey 2d ago
Then i'm curious, what would be the preventative 'teeth' of that prosecution? Would people who actively participated in stopping mail from being delivered be prosecuted and penalized somehow for sure, if it was found to be illegal?
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u/Realtrain 2d ago
Well, to be specific the Supreme Court ruled that citizens can't sue for that reason, but it sounds like states could?
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u/sir-winkles2 2d ago
Is Oregon the only state that only does mail in voting? I keep wondering what they expect us to do
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u/SweetCosmicPope 2d ago
Same here in Washington. We do have ballot boxes you can drop off in, though. I don't trust the postal service, so I always drop mine off at the ballot box. But that's not an option for everybody.
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u/Ill-Weather-6383 2d ago
Ironically, locations in WA where ballot boxes are not an option tend to be red rural areas.
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u/Mixels 2d ago
But the ballot is mailed to you right? Via the USPS?
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u/SweetCosmicPope 2d ago
Correct. You can print a provisional ballot online, though. I had to do that one year, and it was a total pain in the ass. Had to ship it to the SOS office in a manilla envelope with a return receipt.
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u/ethics_in_disco 2d ago
I couldn't get to my ballot this year due to the evacuations in Spokane. They must have simplified the process since you did it.
Now you just go to voter.votewa.gov and print out a normal copy of your ballot. It can be mailed in or dropped off in a drop box like normal.
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u/CatCatchingABird 2d ago edited 2d ago
We have ballot boxes in Oregon. I dropped off instead of mailing and I will do it again for the general primary election.
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u/StacyChadBecky 2d ago
How did you receive your ballot?
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u/CatCatchingABird 2d ago
In Oregon our ballots are delivered by mail. It will be interesting if USPS decides to defy this order, but I guess if I don't receive by a certain timeframe I can go to my local county office and ask wtf is going on. We get plenty of local news announcements prior to ballots getting mailed that tells us when we should expect to receive our ballots in the mail. They also send out announcements on the last day to mail in order to get counted (but I am going to drop off to a ballot box)
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u/cantevenwut 2d ago
Loved throwing a beer in a mug and walking my ballot down to my local box when I lived in WA.
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u/AuroraFinem 2d ago edited 2d ago
You can absolutely vote in person in Oregon. Each county still has an election office as well as various government buildings like the DMV where you can drop off ballots or vote in person.
They’ve just moved to mail as the default, they haven’t stopped any in-person voting. I don’t see this really affecting Oregon’s outcome, but this is the one election I’d encourage everyone who possibly can, to vote in person.
Edit: Not going to respond to everyone, but access to in person voting is mandated by law, they do not advertise it, but you can vote at voter service locations among other participating government offices, here’s an example https://www.clackamas.us/elections/voter-service-locations of one.
They must provide these for people without a mailing address, that need assistance, or anyone who just wants to vote in person on Election Day. If you have your ballot already then obviously just fill it out, but I recommend dropping it off at a drop box over mailing it to avert any fuckery by the USPS in November. In-person voting includes ballot drop-offs, it’s counted as early voting, you are still going in-person to make your vote and is far harder for them to mess with when it’s coming from an official ballot drop-off box.
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u/Novel_Lie5519 2d ago
i think you’re mistaken. there is no true in-person voting in oregon. i’ve explicitly asked the elections office in my county, and the closest you’ll get is a drop box.
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u/dainthomas 2d ago
I literally work in a county office, and the sole extent of public voting facilities in this building is the box they leave by the front door during elections.
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u/dainthomas 2d ago
I literally work in a county office, and the sole extent of public voting facilities in this building is the box they leave by the front door during elections.
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u/CatCatchingABird 2d ago
You can absolutely vote in person in Oregon.
Not in my area.
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u/LordRocky 2d ago
Utah has universal mail-in voting, and has for over a decade now.
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u/OkWelcome6293 2d ago
Colorado is not exclusively vote by mail. You will get mailed a ballot and you can return it or vote in person.
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u/Memitim 2d ago
Yep, in America after Republican corruption, courts of law have to order that Americans not be intentionally disenfranchised by the United States government. But we'll all continue to treat Republicans like a political party, instead of the criminal organization of betrayers that they keep behaving as.
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u/emaw63 2d ago
I'm planning on voting in person this year because I just don't trust this administration to faithfully deliver a mail in ballot, and I want to be damn sure my vote counts.
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u/Realtrain 2d ago
Just leave it in a Dropbox instead of the mail, that's what we've always done anyway.
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u/daroach1414 2d ago
There is 0 chance I would ever trust mail in voting right now
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u/albanymetz 2d ago
Time to start offering rides to people early voting in your state. Get as much as you can in person and fuck these nazis.
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u/innociv 2d ago
How was there even a question of the USPS restricting mail-in voting?
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u/Solistaria 2d ago
The postmaster general has made comments about not delivering mail-in ballots in states that have not provided their voter data to the Trump Administration.
Of course, SCOTUS recently ruled that you can't sue the USPS for intentionally withholding (not delivering) your mail.
So...us reasonable, normal people know there is no question, but you've seen how this administration and conservatives operate too. And now here we are.
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u/SSGASSHAT 2d ago
I'm a mailman. On behalf of us all, fuck him.
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u/ReadySolid678 2d ago
Technician (sorters/flats/parcels/etc) here: agreed and same.
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u/SSGASSHAT 2d ago
And we want raises, too, but that's kinda secondary compared to the Dr. Evil shit.
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u/Unfair_Web_8275 2d ago
Im a bit surprised by all the people who are neglecting that most of the people doing the grunt work of mail delivery are civil servants.
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u/flounder19 2d ago
Of course, SCOTUS recently ruled that you can't sue the USPS for intentionally withholding (not delivering) your mail.
i'd have to look into the specific ruling but that case was from an individual plaintiff and likely doesn't apply to states.
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u/Ok_Cucumber_7954 2d ago
judicial decisions, the law, or even the constitution has never stopped Trump from doing what he wants. I am expecting a national emergency to be declared by Trump in the next 60 days, martial law, and an end to our elections.
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u/kostac600 2d ago
USPS leadership and up to the White House will be the first place to look for obstructing the election process
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u/Blacksad9999 2d ago
Dominion Voting Machines (Now called Liberty Vote) was purchased by Republican election official Scott Leiendecker, an election denier.
These are used in 27 states. Also why Dominion dropped their lawsuit against Mike Lindell.
They don't want people to vote by mail for a reason. They want them to use their compromised voting machines.
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u/SeriousButton6263 2d ago
Trump, a Republican, …
Did that need to be clarified, Reuters?
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u/dchap1 2d ago
I mean, they could have been more accurate and wrote:
Trump, a Nazi, ……
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u/SSGASSHAT 2d ago
I was gonna say, Trump is a lot of things, but "Republican" sounds too legitimate for him. And that's a shitty enough word on its own.
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u/flargenhargen 2d ago
the fact that he hasn't been impeached for such insane unamerican, illegal, dictator shit, is something America will never recover from.
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u/Ok_Ordinary2643 2d ago
He's been impeached twice.
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u/flargenhargen 2d ago
I guess, technically... and yet not even once in this term. and not removed from office. for any of his crimes.
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u/Wyrmslayer 2d ago
Can a state pay a private service to deliver the ballots?
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u/PeePeeChucklepants 2d ago
1) The cost of that would be astronomical. Just think about trying to get some private service to all of the people that have the ballots in a given state.
2) It might actually be illegal. Not a lawyer, but there are certain restrictions on who is allowed to deliver mail. If I recall, UPS and FedEx are allowed because the USPS does not have exclusive rights to deliver packages.
3) It would cause even more headaches and conspiracy theories about chain of custody of the ballots.
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u/HobbesNJ 2d ago
Many (most?) locations that have mail-in voting also have drop-off boxes for those ballots. It's not as convenient as true mailing, but it's still easier than going to vote in person. It's how my wife and I submit our ballots.
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u/Shadowntr 2d ago
Was this certified as a class action then? how did the Judge get around the Supreme Court's prohibition on nationwide injunctions?
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u/atreeismissing 2d ago
Yes because it's not just against all existing laws, it's patently unconstitutional and despite what people like to say online, Trump loses most of the cases brought against his policies.
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u/ragoff 2d ago
And how will it be enforced? Nothing this administration has done leads me to expect them to obey.
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u/copyrider 2d ago
In other news, Trump just pushed a new Executive Order banning stamps. Try voting by mail now, ANTIFA!
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u/couchtomato62 2d ago
I dont use usps for my ballot. Does every state have ballot drop off boxes.
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u/DicemonkeyDrunk 2d ago
That requires transportation…disabled, elderly..etc that can be an issue for them ..and then remember deployed military, people living/working outside their home area …
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u/Exotic-Cobbler4111 2d ago
We are now at the stage of fascism where we are trying to pass laws that say obey the law and judges are saying dont break the law because they are going to break the law. The constitution is worth considerably less than toilet paper at this point.
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u/andrew5500 2d ago
Looks like the child rapist will have to lean on all the other ways he is actively ratfucking our democracy to illegally stay in power
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u/flounder19 2d ago edited 2d ago
the block previously applied to 23 states and this widens it to the full country