A federal judge in the United States has blocked proposed restrictions on mail-in voting that were championed by President Donald Trump. On Wednesday in Washington, DC, District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with the NAACP, a civil rights organization, in its case against the US Postal Service (USPS).

Sullivan found that the restrictions would likely violate a 2021 settlement requiring expedited handling for mail-in ballots. He therefore granted the NAACP's motion to enforce compliance with the settlement, dealing another setback to the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the US voting landscape.

“NAACP has plausibly suggested — and the Postal Service has not disputed — that the Proposed Rule is already having a ‘real impact on present day affairs’,” Sullivan wrote in his ruling. The case revolves around a rule the Postal Service put forward in May that would require states to provide lists of absentee and mail-in voters. Ballots that do not conform to the list would be returned.

The proposed rule would also require a new envelope design for mail-in ballots, governing logos and barcode placements. Failure to comply would result in the Postal Service refusing to deliver the ballots. The NAACP argued that the proposal would run afoul of a 2021 legal settlement that forces Postal Service officials to take “extraordinary measures” to ensure timely delivery of ballot mail.

The decision comes less than five months before the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide whether Trump's Republican Party retains control over both chambers of Congress. Trump has spread unfounded theories that US elections are vulnerable to “vote rigging”, pointing to commonplace election tools like mail-in voting and electronic voting machines.

Civil rights advocates applauded the court's Wednesday decision and warned against Trump's efforts to limit mail-in voting. “The court today correctly recognized that USPS's plan to create roadblocks to mail-in voting was inconsistent with its commitment to timely deliver election mail,” said Allison Zieve, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group. “USPS's plan was unwise, unlawful, and a threat to the millions of voters who rely on mailed ballots to participate in our democracy.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com