States have renewed their legal challenge to the Trump administration's efforts to restrict voting by mail, bringing a lawsuit in Massachusetts against the U.S. Postal Service.
"This is not over," Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told USA TODAY. "The states will see the Trump administration in court, and we will do everything in our power to protect the rights of American citizens to use the mail to vote, just as they always have."
On Aug. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court removed a block on the Postal Service's writing rules to put the plan into place, saying states filed their suit before the rules were written and couldn't prove they would be harmed by them.
USPS formally published its
new rule in the Federal Register on Aug. 26, imposing new requirements for states to provide the government information on voters before the midterms. That opened the door for states to file a new lawsuit.
There are less than 70 days until Election Day. Under federal law, ballots must be sent by mail to military and overseas voters the week of Sept. 14 to ensure they can be returned on time. Twenty states send mail-in ballots to voters 45 days or more before an election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. For example, North Carolina begins sending ballots out the first week of September.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: States sue over new Trump mail ballot rules
