Federal court keeps challenge to Trump mail-in voting order alive

A federal court kept alive a challenge to President Donald Trump’s March 31 executive order restricting mail-in ballots, preserving a fight that could shape how voters cast ballots and how administrators handle them in the 2026 primaries and November midterm elections.

The case was filed April 2, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the ACLU of Massachusetts and the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. Their suit targets Trump’s order, titled Ensuring Citizen Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections, and the League said the challenge sought to stop federal overreach into election administration.

On June 18, the court ruled that nonpartisan voting rights groups could continue their legal challenge ahead of the 2026 primaries and November midterm elections. The government has said it may take the case to the Supreme Court, putting the dispute on a path that could eventually decide how far a White House can go in setting mail ballot rules that have traditionally been handled by the states.

Voting rights groups warned that the order was unlawful and could cause mass disenfranchisement. Their argument landed in a broader landscape where mail voting has already been pulled into partisan conflict: the Brennan Center for Justice said that in response to Covid-19, most states made it easier to vote by mail in 2020, but gaps remained. That left election systems uneven across the country, with some voters able to rely on absentee voting more easily than others.

The June ruling also fits into a larger pattern of litigation over Trump-era election directives. The Brennan Center said that more than a year after the 2025 anti-voting executive order was issued, many provisions were blocked and others were still being challenged in federal courts. For election officials, that means the rules governing ballot access remain unsettled even as primary contests move closer and mail ballots are prepared for another high-turnout election cycle.

At its core, the case is a test of whether election administration will be controlled from the White House or checked by states and courts. For now, the challenge remains alive, and the final word may come only after another round of appeals.