Trump administration has again applied to the Supreme Court to restrict voting by mail

The Trump administration, about two months before the midterm elections to be held on November 3, applied to the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to implement a presidential decree that imposes stricter rules on voting by mail. The decree signed on March 31 provides for the creation of a federal voter list and the postal service sending ballots only to those registered on that list.

A federal judge suspended the implementation of the decree on August 27, ruling that compliance would be 'practically impossible' for states before the election and would cause irreparable harm to voting rights. The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, lifted a previous stay on August 24, but the legal process has restarted following the new federal decision.

This development once again brings to the fore the tension between claims of election security, voting rights, and states' authority to administer elections. The Supreme Court's final ruling could directly affect the use of mail-in ballots and, consequently, the election process.