Trump Targets Mail Voting

What happened

The Postal Service has paused work on an online mail-ballot portal after the Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump’s new USPS rules for the 2026 midterms. Current vote-by-mail procedures remain in place while lawsuits continue. Trump’s March order would have required states to send voter lists to USPS and allowed the agency to reject ballots lacking new barcodes or envelopes. The administration said the rules would protect election integrity; states and voting-rights advocates said they would unlawfully disrupt state-run elections. Postmaster General David Steiner said the agency is following the injunction: “There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence left room to revisit similar rules later.

How each side covered it

From the left

Left-leaning accounts cast the fight as an assault on mail voting and midterm access, not a neutral rules dispute. Daily Beast described Trump’s push as a bid to cut down mail voting before November. Seattle Times highlighted Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s timing concern. Washington Monthly stressed the reprieve was temporary and the threat remained. TPM reassured readers old procedures would continue.

From the right

Right-leaning accounts treated the fight as a court-stalled test of federal power, with voter behavior as a key backdrop. Fox News emphasized legal uncertainty over whether executive authority could overcome state election control. Breitbart focused on Democrats and independents moving toward in-person voting. Epoch Times cast USPS as an implementing agency that stopped technical work after the injunction.