{
  "id": 624207,
  "title": "US Midterm Elections: Court Blocks Trump's Mail-in Voting Plans Across the Country",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/12/zwischenwahlen-in-den-usa-gericht-stoppt-trumps-briefwahl-plane-im",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-12T02:03:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/zwischenwahlen-in-den-usa-gericht-stoppt-trumps-briefwahl-plaene-im-ganzen-land/100246644.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "Less than three months before the US congressional elections, a federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's plans to tighten postal voting rules - with nationwide effect.\n\nThe court in Boston extended a previous temporary ban on the planned rules from 23 to all 50 states, according to the preliminary injunction. It also denied the government the right to regulate elections. Trump wants to push ahead with his plans before the congressional elections in November.\n\nWhile he justifies the planned changes by claiming to want to prevent alleged electoral fraud, critics suspect that the motive is more likely to be a targeted disadvantage for the democratic voter base. The final word on the matter will be with the Supreme Court: the Justice Department recently applied to the Supreme Court with an emergency application to get the green light for the comprehensive changes to the electoral law.\n\nIt is about the dispatch of postal voting documents. At the end of March, Trump ordered that the US Postal Service (USPS) should only forward postal voting documents to people on a list drawn up by the states. The postal service would thus change from being a pure sender of election documents to a controller in the electoral process. Exact rules were still to be developed.\n\nThe court prohibited USPS in the preliminary injunction from implementing Trump's order. On November 3, about a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives will be re-elected in the \"midterms\".\n\nDue to the Republicans' narrow majority in both chambers of parliament, every single mandate could decide who ultimately has the power in Congress - and whether the Democrats can prevent central political projects of Trump and his Republicans.\n\nCourt: Trump's order could cause chaos. The judge in Boston emphasized that the status quo for the election must be maintained. There would be less and less time to inform voters how the tightening of rules would affect them if they want to vote by postal vote.\n\nTrump's order causes confusion and chaos is looming. The lawsuit was filed by non-partisan organizations that, according to their own information, want to increase voter turnout. Trump repeatedly sows distrust in fair elections in the USA.\n\nFor example, he has been claiming for years that he was cheated out of his victory in the 2020 presidential election - although this has been largely refuted.",
  "summary": "In November, there will be a vote on the reoccupation of many seats in the US Parliament. President Trump wants to enforce stricter rules for postal voting. But again, the judiciary is getting in his way.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}