Washington County's plan to mail ballots Oct. 14 faces new uncertainty after the Trump administration filed a third Supreme Court appeal Sunday, Sept. 6.

Solicitor General John Sauer asked the justices to pause a federal judge's injunction blocking new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail-ballot rules, SCOTUSblog reported. The filing came as North Carolina began mailing ballots Saturday, Sept. 5, with Alabama set to start Wednesday, Sept. 9, and at least five more states following the week of Sept. 13.

Sauer argued in the application that the injunction risks "confusion and chaos" because it makes compliance with the new rule voluntary rather than mandatory while ballots are already entering the mail.

The Nov. 3 Washington County ballot includes runoffs for the Commissioner At-Large and District 4 seats. Oregon is one of 23 Democratic-led states, plus the District of Columbia, that sued to block the USPS rule. Oregon has voted entirely by mail for more than 25 years.

As we reported Monday, Sept. 7, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction Friday, Sept. 4, blocking the Postal Service from requiring states to comply with the rule's envelope-design and voter-portal registration provisions while the legal challenge continues. Talwani found that rushing the rule into effect less than 70 days before the election "threatens disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail."

Sunday's filing was the third time in less than six weeks the administration came to the court over the dispute. Sauer withdrew a Thursday, Sept. 3, application targeting Talwani's earlier temporary restraining order and replaced it with the new one aimed at her broader injunction.

The USPS rule, published Aug. 21, would prohibit the Postal Service from delivering mail ballots to voters not confirmed as eligible on state-submitted lists and would require ballot envelopes to meet uniform design standards.

During a Sept. 4 hearing in Boston, Talwani pressed the government on whether the online portal states would need to upload voter lists was even operational. "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," the judge said, according to OPB.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a Sept. 4 statement that the ruling "keeps Oregon's elections exactly where they belong: in Oregon's hands," the Statesman Journal reported.

At a Salem press conference Tuesday, Sept. 8, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said ballots are being printed and envelopes have been purchased, OPB reported. Read is requesting nearly $500,000 in emergency funding from the Legislature to buy 20 new ballot drop boxes for underserved areas.

Washington County voters who prefer not to mail their ballots can use drop boxes, including the Bethany Library at 15325 NW Central Dr. and the Cedar Mill Community Library at 1080 NW Saltzman Rd. Drop boxes open after ballots are mailed and stay open until 8 p.m. on Election Night, according to the county Elections Division.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson directed challengers to file their response to the administration's appeal by 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 9. It is unclear when a ruling will come.