24 states sue to block new Postal Service rules for mail voting

Washington — A coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to block a new rule from the U.S. Postal Service that imposes requirements for mail voting ahead of the November midterm elections.

The final rule , published by the agency last Friday, came in response to an executive order President Trump signed in March that seeks to tighten the rules for mail voting. The states argue in their lawsuit , filed in federal court in Massachusetts, that the rule will prevent them from administering their mail voting programs for the midterm elections and risks disenfranchising voters who cast their ballots by mail.

They said in their lawsuit that the Postal Service's new measure unconstitutionally exceeds the executive branch's power and interferes with states' authority to administer elections under their own laws.

"The Rule violates the Constitution and federal statutes many times over," the state attorneys general said. "It displaces state laws adopted pursuant to each State's constitutional authority to administer elections, erects new USPS functions and ballot mail constraints that are inconsistent with USPS's governing statutes, flouts USPS's procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and cannot be reconciled with federal voting rights law."

They continued: "Each of these defects would alone establish the Rule's unlawfulness. Together, they demonstrate USPS's utter disregard for the law in carrying out the President's policy preferences."

The states warned that if the Postal Service's new requirements are allowed to take effect, election officials will have to devote time, money and resources to implement the changes.

The new measure from the Postal Service implements the plans laid out in Mr. Trump's executive order, which he said are necessary to protect the integrity of U.S. elections.