WASHINGTON — President Trump issued an executive order in March 2026 seeking to limit access to mail ballots by directing the Postal Service to condition delivery on states sharing voter data with the federal government. The order has prompted legal challenges.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the Postal Service plans related to mail ballots. "The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections," the judge wrote, adding that the Postal Service lacks the legal authority to determine who can vote by mail or how they cast their ballot.

Postmaster General David Steiner testified to a Senate panel that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would not deliver mail ballots to states that do not provide sensitive voter data to the federal government. Senator Elissa Slotkin told Steiner, "Please push back on being a pawn in this authoritarian playbook. The Postal Service is one of the most important institutions in our country. Don't taint it with the obsession of this one man."

President Trump has pressured Republican lawmakers to overhaul voting laws. He has threatened to withhold federal funding from states unless they phase out electronic voting machines and has stated he will not sign any legislation unless the SAVE America Act is approved. The act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering, show identification when casting a ballot, and require states to send voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump has pushed the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of citizens in each state to determine voter eligibility, despite claims without evidence that elections are rigged. U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan stated that a federal immigration database being compiled by the department to determine voter eligibility violated privacy laws. Sooknanan also said the database has contributed to states removing U.S. citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information. "All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote," Sooknanan wrote. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."

The Supreme Court has upheld state laws that permit the counting of mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but arriving late. Trump said it was a little bit surprising to see the court's decision and claimed without evidence that the result will inevitably give people more time to vote illegally. The White House defends the effort as fulfilling a campaign promise and said the administration remains confident the executive order will be in place by the November election.