Attorney General Bonta Secures Extended Block on Trump Administration’s Attempt to Restrict Mail Voting

OAKLAND — Co-leading a coalition of 24 attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement in response to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granting the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction, which ensures that key provisions of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) drastic, unprecedented, and unlawful changes to mail voting remain blocked through the November elections. Oral argument on the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction was held on September 3. The court had previously issued a temporary restraining order on August 27 that blocked the changes for 14 days.

“We’ve now secured longer-term relief that will keep the USPS changes blocked while our case moves forward,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We will continue to take all steps to stop the Trump Administration from trampling on voting rights and restricting mail voting.” 

The USPS changes at issue, which were mandated by President Trump’s second elections-related Executive Order, would require state and local election officials to redesign and reprint ballot envelopes, enroll millions of voters in a new and untested USPS system, and meet burdensome requirements that would allow USPS to refuse to deliver mail ballots that do not comply. In a recent court filing, USPS admitted that the technology to implement the rule is not even available. And a recent whistleblower report also warned of “potentially catastrophic problems” and characterized the Trump Administration’s efforts as “sloppy and rushed.” In response, the coalition filed the whistleblower report with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and cited it in its opposition brief to the government’s request to stay the case before the First Circuit. 

Attorney General Bonta, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown co-led the coalition in filing a lawsuit over the USPS changes on August 26. They were joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.