The U.S. Supreme Court denied 7-2 the Trump administration’s emergency request to enforce a new Postal Service rule on voting by mail last month. A federal judge’s order blocking the Trump administration’s request was left in place.
The rule, which implements a March executive order, would have required states to use federally specified ballot envelopes and upload voter information to a Postal Service portal, according to the U.S. government.
The fight over Washington’s power over mail voting is not done.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence that the rule may still fall within the Postal Service’s authority. Los Angeles County begins mailing ballots to every registered voter Oct. 1, according to the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, said that because of the ruling, “we didn’t see any changes in how Californians will cast their vote-by-mail ballots and how they’re going to be counted.”
Sam Mullin, a sophomore studying business administration, said “I have family around here, so I’m probably just going to go with them in person to vote.”
The order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a coalition of states led by California. In the Sept. 4 injunction, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found that enforcing a rule issued less than 70 days before the election threatened to disenfranchise millions of voters who vote by mail. The executive order directed the Postal Service to deliver ballots only for voters on approved lists.
President Trump has long claimed that mail voting enables fraud. A November 2025 Brookings Institution analysis of the 2016 through 2022 general elections found about four cases of mail-voting fraud for every 10 million mail ballots cast.
“There’s been research study after research study, and the case has been adjudicated in courtrooms around the country,” Romero said. “Vote by mail is safe and secure.”
The national data available points in two directions. The Harvard Youth Poll conducted in the spring found that only 33% of young Americans said they trust the 2026 elections will be conducted fairly, while 43% said they do not. Unsure young Americans make up 21% of those polled.
“I’m also influenced a lot by my family, and they just told me mail-in voting has recently not been as legitimate as it can be,” said Taiga Kobayashi, a sophomore business administration major.
A NPR/PBS News/Marist poll conducted Sept. 14-15 found that 75% of registered voters trust their state or local government to run a fair and accurate election.
“I mean, it’s a federal process, so I believe it,” Mullin said.
According to the same poll, confidence that the Postal Service will deliver election mail on time fell from 71% in 2024 to 58% this year. Roughly four in 10 voters from both parties expressed little or no confidence. The parties split sharply on fraud: 70% of Republicans said mail voting allows a great deal or good amount of fraud, compared with 18% of Democrats.
Romero says students should make a plan, check which address they are registered at, and sign with the same signature on file.
“Don’t let your vote be taken from you. Don’t let your voice be taken from you,” Romero said.
Edited by Scott Hills and Katherine Contreras Hernandez