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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court for emergency permission to enforce new mail-ballot rules that could cause noncompliant ballot mailings to be rejected before they reach voters.

The request comes as North Carolina begins sending the nation’s first ballots for the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Other states will follow in the coming weeks, raising the stakes of a dispute that remains unresolved.

The rules are blocked for now. A federal judge temporarily stopped the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing them while states and voting-rights groups pursue a new legal challenge.

Mail-ballot rules remain blocked for now

The Justice Department filed its emergency Supreme Court application Thursday. It asked the justices to lift an order issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts.

Talwani imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order on Aug. 27. She found that the challengers were likely to succeed and that enforcing the requirements so close to the election could cause irreparable harm.

The Supreme Court has asked the challengers to respond by the morning of Sept. 8, according to CourtHouse News Service. The court has not announced when it will rule.

This is the dispute’s second trip to the Supreme Court. USA Herald previously examined how Trump’s mail-in voting order first reached the Supreme Court before the Postal Service finalized its requirements. On Aug. 24, the justices set aside an earlier injunction because the Postal Service had not finalized its rule when that challenge began.

That decision did not declare the final rule lawful. The Supreme Court’s order allowed the states and other challengers to return to court after the agency completed its action, which they did.

What the mail-ballot rules require.

The final Postal Service rule creates new requirements for mailings that send federal-election ballots to voters. It applies to both the outbound envelope and the return envelope supplied with each ballot.

Each envelope must display the official Election Mail logo, meet Postal Service automation standards and carry a unique Intelligent Mail barcode. The barcode must contain the proper ZIP Code and a service identifier designated for ballots.

Election offices must also submit voter-specific mailing data through a Postal Service portal. The information includes the voter’s name and address, the originating state and the unique barcodes assigned to the outbound and return envelopes.

The rule tells election officials to provide the data at least 30 days before Election Day when practicable, or by the state-law deadline for mailing ballots. Election offices may submit supplemental information for voters added later.

What happens to a noncompliant ballot mailing

The most important distinction concerns where the Postal Service would apply the new checks. Postal employees would review outgoing ballot mailings when an election office presents them for acceptance.

Under the mail-ballot rules, the Postal Service would refuse a mailing that does not meet the envelope, barcode or data requirements. It would return the mailing to the election office for correction and resubmission.

That process could delay ballots before voters ever receive them. The immediate risk is not a carrier rejecting an individual voter’s completed ballot because of a database mismatch.

Once the Postal Service accepts an outgoing ballot mailing, the rule says it will move through the mailstream as it did before. The agency also says completed return ballots will receive normal processing after voters place them in the mail.

The Postal Service would not decide whether a voter is eligible or a U.S. citizen. It says those decisions remain with state and local election officials.

Election calendar adds pressure

North Carolina began sending mail ballots Friday, according to the Associated Press. It is the first state to begin the process for the 2026 general election.

North Carolina officials said the Postal Service approved the state’s envelope design and that mailing would proceed as planned. However, election officials elsewhere have said they already printed envelopes before the agency finalized its requirements.

The Postal Service’s online data portal also was not ready when the rule was announced. The agency has said it will work with election offices to help them comply.

Those timing concerns helped drive the lower court’s decision to block enforcement. The closer the dispute runs to state mailing dates, the harder it may become for election offices to redesign envelopes, assign new barcodes or correct rejected batches.

Administration and challengers dispute authority

President Donald Trump directed the Postal Service to create the standards in a March executive order. The administration says the mail-ballot rules will improve tracking and support election integrity without taking eligibility decisions away from the states.

Justice Department lawyers describe the rule as an operational measure governing mail preparation. They argue that the Postal Service may set conditions for accepting large ballot mailings, just as it sets design and automation standards for other mail.

The states and voting-rights groups challenging the rule say it goes much further. They argue that the president and Postal Service cannot impose national election requirements that Congress did not authorize.

The challengers also say the late rollout could prevent eligible voters from receiving ballots on time. Talwani found that the threatened disruption justified temporary relief while the courts review those claims.

What mail voters should do

The injunction means voters should continue following the current instructions from their state or local election office. The federal lawsuit does not change voter-registration rules, ballot-request deadlines or return deadlines by itself.

Voters should use the official return envelope provided with the ballot and follow every instruction for signing, sealing and returning it. They should not add or remove labels, barcodes or other markings unless their election office directs them to do so.

Return rules vary by state. Some jurisdictions require a ballot to arrive by Election Day, while others accept ballots postmarked by a specified date.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission provides state-by-state mail-voting information, including links to ballot-tracking systems where available. A voter who does not receive an expected ballot should contact the local election office promptly instead of waiting until Election Day.

What happens next

The Supreme Court could leave the temporary block in place, pause it while litigation continues or issue a narrower order. The federal district court is also considering whether to replace the short restraining order with a longer preliminary injunction.

The justices will not decide the validity of any individual ballot in this emergency proceeding. Their immediate decision will determine whether the Postal Service may enforce the new acceptance requirements while the broader lawsuit moves forward.

For election offices, timing may matter as much as the eventual legal result. Each new state mailing date reduces the time available to change envelopes, upload voter data or correct a rejected ballot batch before voters begin waiting for ballots.