By Nate Raymond and Luc Cohen
Aug 11 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing part of President Donald Trump's executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston effectively expanded on an earlier order she had issued in June that had prevented Trump's administration from implementing it in 23 mostly Democratic-led states.
Several voting rights groups asked the judge to go further and issue an order that barred the USPS altogether from implementing the order anywhere in the nation.
In granting the plaintiffs request, Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, wrote the executive branch of the federal government had no authority to regulate elections, a responsibility that the U.S. Constitution assigns to individual states.
"That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent Defendants (the federal government) from changing election rules on the eve of the election," Talwani wrote.
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department, which represents the federal government in court, immediately responded to requests for comment.
The executive order called on states to provide lists of eligible voters who may receive mail ballots. If states did not comply, USPS would have refused to deliver the ballots.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston and Luc Cohen in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)
