2026年8月26日 / 美国东部时间下午3:28 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯—— 24个州和哥伦比亚特区组成的联盟于周三提起诉讼，试图阻止美国邮政总局出台的一项新规定，该规定将于11月中期选举前对邮寄投票施加新要求。
美国邮政总局于上周五公布的这项最终规定，是针对特朗普总统今年3月签署的一项旨在收紧邮寄投票规则的行政令制定的。在马萨诸塞州联邦法院提起的诉讼中，各州辩称，这项规定将阻碍它们为中期选举开展邮寄投票项目，并有剥夺邮寄投票选民选举权的风险。
它们在诉讼中表示，美国邮政总局的这项新举措违宪地超越了行政部门的权力，并且干涉了各州根据自身法律管理选举的权限。
“这项规定多次违反宪法和联邦法律，”各州总检察长表示。“它取代了各州依据自身宪法赋予的选举管理权制定的州法律，增设了与美国邮政总局管辖法规不符的邮政总局职能和邮寄选票限制，无视美国邮政总局的程序要求，违反了《隐私法案》，且与联邦投票权法律无法兼容。”
他们继续说道：“每一项缺陷本身就足以证明该规定的非法性。所有缺陷加在一起，更表明美国邮政总局在落实总统的政策倾向时，完全无视法律。”
各州警告称，如果美国邮政总局的新规定得以生效，选举官员将不得不投入时间、资金和资源来落实这些变更。
“今天，我们采取法律行动彻底阻止这项非法规定，确保选民能够行使他们受宪法保护的投票权，”加利福尼亚州总检察长罗布·邦塔在一份声明中表示。“我们要明确：美国宪法将规范选举的权力赋予各州——而非总统，也非美国邮政总局。选票是我们声音的延伸，我们要求法院确保每个人都有权让自己的声音被听到。”
白宫为美国邮政总局的新政策进行了辩护。
“激进的民主党人一直在反对保护邮寄选票安全、确保只有美国公民才能选举美国领导人的合理措施，”白宫发言人劳伦·比斯在一份声明中表示。“特朗普政府将继续依法落实特朗普总统当选时承诺的议程，其中包括保障我们选举的安全与公正。”
美国邮政总局的这项新举措落实了特朗普行政令中提出的计划，特朗普称这些计划对于保护美国选举的公正性至关必要。该规定明确了邮寄选票信封必须具备的设计要素，包括可追踪的条形码，并要求州选举官员通过在线门户提交计划向其寄送邮寄选票的选民姓名和地址。
随后，选民将被纳入一个州专属的“邮寄和缺席投票参与名单”，美国邮政总局表示，该名单“主要旨在帮助选举官员和执法人员了解哪些人可能已收到选票，以便识别可能需要进一步调查的异常情况”。
美国邮政总局表示，其“不会在确定选民资格、维护选民名册或计票方面发挥任何作用”。
但各州表示，这项规定将迫使它们立即重新设计邮寄选票信封以符合其要求，并需向美国邮政总局“付出高昂成本”寻求审核。
“原告州的选举官员还必须以极快的速度开发新系统，向美国邮政总局提交邮寄选民名单，以确保每位有权获得邮寄选票的合格选民都能收到选票，还要为选举官员制定新指南并开展培训，并向公众宣传邮寄投票的变更，”它们在诉讼中表示。
它们还警告称，由于美国邮政总局的新规，可能会有更多选民选择亲自投票而非邮寄投票。
“简而言之，它们必须在短短几周内，以有限的资源完成多项艰巨任务，每一项都是为了应对该规定造成的 disruption，”各州在声明中说道。
除了这24个州之外，民主党竞选委员会和投票权组织也已对美国邮政总局的这项规定提出质疑。
几乎所有加入此次新诉讼的州都曾就特朗普的行政令提起过早先的诉讼。一家联邦地区法院曾阻止政府实施该行政令的关键条款，包括针对美国邮政总局的指令。但最高法院于周一叫停了下级法院的禁令。
最高法院以6票对3票的表决结果基于程序理由作出裁决，称各州提起诉讼的时机尚不成熟，并认定地区法院无权阻止特朗普政府试图落实该行政令。
“最高法院对本次申请的处理并不意味着政府为落实该行政令采取的任何措施都必然合法，”最高法院在一份未具名的裁决中表示。“在这方面，时间会证明一切。”
总统的行政令还指示国土安全部编制每个州符合投票资格的居民名单。它指示总检察长优先调查和起诉向非公民或其他无资格参加联邦选举的选民发放选票的州和地方官员。
负责审理该州诉讼的法官、美国地区法官因德拉·塔尔瓦尼此前曾在另一起案件中发布全国范围的禁令，阻止美国邮政总局落实特朗普行政令中提出的计划。但塔尔瓦尼于周三搁置了该禁令，理由是最高法院的裁决允许美国邮政总局推进邮寄投票程序。
随着特朗普政府对邮寄投票施加新限制的法律斗争进入最新阶段，目前尚不清楚这些规定能否在11月中期选举前生效。一些州将在未来几周开始向选民寄送邮寄选票。根据选举创新与研究中心的数据，北卡罗来纳州将于9月4日向特定选民邮寄选票，而纽约州、威斯康星州和弗吉尼亚州等州将在9月中旬左右开始邮寄选票。
24 states sue to block new Postal Service rules for mail voting ahead of midterms
August 26, 2026 / 3:28 PM EDT / CBS News
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.
“Today, we’re taking legal action to stop this unlawful rule in its tracks and ensure that voters can exercise their constitutional right to vote,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: the U.S. Constitution gives states the power to regulate elections — not the President and not USPS. Ballots are an extension of our voices and we’re asking the court to ensure that every person has the right to make theirs heard.”
The White House defended the new policies from the Postal Service.
“Radical Democrats continue to oppose commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans are electing American leaders,” Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the White House, said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will continue to lawfully enact the agenda President Trump was elected on – which includes the safety and security of our elections.”
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. The rule lays out design elements required for mail ballot envelopes, including trackable barcodes, and directs state election officials to submit to an online portal the names and addresses of voters to whom they intend to send mail ballots.
Voters will then be enrolled in a state-specific “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List,” which the Postal Service said is “primarily intended to assist election officials and law enforcement to understand who may have been mailed a ballot, in order to identify potentially anomalous incidents that may merit further investigation.”
The Postal Service “will not play any role in determining voter eligibility, maintaining voter rolls, or counting ballots,” it said.
But the states said that as a result of the rule, they must immediately redesign their mail ballot envelopes to comply with its requirements and seek review from the Postal Service “at significant costs.”
“Plaintiff States’ election officials must also develop new systems at breakneck speed to convey mail voter lists to USPS to ensure that every eligible voter who is entitled to a mail ballot receives one, create new guidance for and train election officials, and educate the public about changes to mail voting,” they said in the suit.
They warned that there may also be an influx of voters who choose to cast their ballots in person instead of by mail because of the Postal Service’s changes.
“In short, they must accomplish multiple Herculean tasks, each necessary to address the disruption caused by the Rule, in a matter of weeks, with limited resources,” the states said.
In addition to the two dozen states, Democratic campaign committees and voting rights groups have also moved to challenge the Postal Service’s rule.
Nearly all of the states that signed onto the new lawsuit filed an earlier challenge to Mr. Trump’s executive order. A federal district court blocked the administration from implementing key provisions of the order, including the directives for the Postal Service. But the Supreme Court on Monday halted the lower court’s injunction.
In a 6-3 decision that rested on procedural grounds, the high court’s conservative majority said the states filed their lawsuit too soon and found the district court lacked jurisdiction to bar the Trump administration from trying to implement the executive order.
“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the Supreme Court said in an unsigned decision. “On that score, time will tell.”
The president’s executive order also directs the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of residents in each state who are eligible to vote. It instructs the attorney general to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of state and local officials who issue ballots to noncitizens or others who are not eligible to vote in federal elections.
The judge overseeing the states’ lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, had also issued a nationwide order in a separate case that blocked the Postal Service from implementing the plans laid out in Mr. Trump’s executive order. But Talwani set aside that injunction Wednesday, citing the Supreme Court’s decision, which allows the Postal Service to move forward with the mail voting procedures.
As the legal battle over Mr. Trump’s efforts to impose new restrictions on mail voting enters its latest stage, it’s unclear whether the rules will take hold before the November midterms. Some states are set to begin sending mail ballots to voters in the coming weeks. In North Carolina, mail ballots will be distributed to certain voters Sept. 4, while states like New York, Wisconsin and Virginia will start sending mail ballots around mid-September, according to the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
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