By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, June 25 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order aiming to tighten rules for mail-in voting, preventing it from taking force ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani sided with several Democratic-led states who argued that the Republican president is trying to unlawfully interfere with the states' administration of federal elections.
Trump,
a Republican, signed the order on March 31 after calling for years for tighter rules on voting by mail and pushing the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. Under the U.S. Constitution, states are assigned the role of administering federal elections.
His order directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state, derived from citizenship and naturalization records and other federal databases.
Trump's order also requires the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state's approved mail-in ballot list. USPS recently moved to implement Trump's directive by issuing new proposed rules requiring states to provide the names and barcodes tied to their mail-in ballots.
The order also directs the U.S. Department of Justice to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of state and local election officials who issue federal ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote.
Voting rights groups sued the administration along with 23 states and the District of Columbia, arguing Trump's order is unconstitutional and that he lacks any legal authority to assert presidential power over election administration.
The states alleged that allowing Trump's order to stand would force them to rush to overhaul their election systems before November, causing chaos and likely disenfranchising eligible voters.
Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, ruled after a different jurist, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, D.C., declined to issue a preliminary injunction in a related lawsuit brought by Democrats challenging Trump's order.
Nichols found that the Democrats' request was premature as Trump's order had yet to be implemented. They are appealing.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Bario and Nia Williams)
