A federal judge on Friday, Sept. 4, blocked the Trump administration from restricting mail voting nationwide. The ruling protects Washington County's all-mail ballot system ahead of the Nov. 3 county chair runoff.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from enforcing President Donald Trump's executive order on mail ballots. The ruling, reported by OPB, replaces a temporary order Talwani granted earlier this summer.

Oregon votes entirely by mail and has for more than 25 years. Washington County Elections is scheduled to mail ballots to all registered voters on Oct. 14 for the Nov. 3 general election. That ballot includes the runoff for county chair between Commissioners Nafisa Fai and Pam Treece, who finished first and second in the May 19 primary with 39.1% and 33.1% of the vote. As we reported Sept. 3, Chair Kathryn Harrington did not seek reelection.

The USPS rule Trump's order triggered would have required new ballot-design standards and forced states to collect voter information and transmit it to the federal government. It also barred the Postal Service from delivering ballots to anyone not confirmed as an eligible voter.

A whistleblower report made public the week of Friday, Sept. 4, warned the requirements could prevent millions of mail ballots from ever being sent, according to OPB's reporting. The rule requires all ballots to be physically brought to post offices before mailing. If a single ballot's bar code registers an error, the entire batch gets rejected.

At the Friday, Sept. 4, hearing in Boston, Talwani pressed Department of Justice attorney Michael Velchik on whether the Postal Service's online tracking portal was operational. Velchik could not confirm it was ready.

"I don't even have a declaration from the Postal Service: 'This is how it will work.' I don't have it. I have nothing," Talwani said.

Trump signed the executive order March 31. Talwani first blocked it in June, but the Supreme Court overturned that order in late August, ruling the lawsuits had been filed before the USPS published its implementing rule. Democratic officials in 24 states, including Oregon, refiled their challenge on Aug. 27. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield accused the administration of politicizing the Postal Service at a news conference that day, according to the Hillsboro News Times.

On Sunday, Sept. 6, the Trump administration filed its third appeal to the Supreme Court asking justices to lift Talwani's injunction, OPB reported. Solicitor General John Sauer argued in the filing that ballots were already being mailed in North Carolina and more states would follow. The administration maintained the Postal Service would not play any role in determining voter eligibility or counting ballots.

No state has volunteered to use the new USPS system. OPB reported the White House did not respond to a request for comment on the Sept. 4 ruling.

Washington County military and overseas voters are scheduled to receive ballots Sept. 19. The Supreme Court had not ruled on the administration's latest appeal as of Monday, Sept. 7.