2026-09-03T13:52:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
作者：卡特里娜·考夫曼，
雅各布·罗森 司法部记者
杰克·罗森是负责报道美国司法部的记者。他此前曾是竞选数字记者，报道特朗普总统2024年竞选活动，还曾担任《与玛格丽特·布伦南会面》节目的助理制片人。
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更新时间：2026年9月3日 / 美国东部时间下午3:27 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
波士顿 — 周四，一名联邦法官就特朗普政府计划在11月中期选举数周前实施新的邮件投票规则向司法部施压，并呼应了相关担忧，称这些措施可能导致选民被剥夺选举权。
政府律师、由民主党领导的多个州的律师以及投票权利组织代表，一同出席了美国地区法官英迪拉·塔尔瓦尼主持的听证会，这场听证会围绕特朗普总统收紧邮件投票规则的努力引发的持续法律纠纷展开。塔尔瓦尼正在权衡是否继续阻止美国邮政管理局在即将到来的选举前实施这项新规则。
质疑这些规定的州和投票权利组织认为该措施违宪，并已寻求长期救济。
法官拒绝当庭作出裁决，但表示将尽快发布命令。
“距离选举还有70天，我没有收到邮政管理局关于这项规定将如何实施的任何信息，”塔尔瓦尼说道。
应塔尔瓦尼要求提供更多信息后，美国邮政管理局首席客户与营销官兼执行副总裁史蒂文·蒙泰思在周四下午提交的一份声明中表示，该机构仍在对相关门户网站进行“改进”，预计该门户网站将在“下周某个时候”可供自愿使用。
蒙泰思表示，邮政管理局目前不强制要求审核邮件投票信封以确保其符合规定，但各州可以“自愿”将信封提交给该机构进行审核。
这场法律纠纷源于特朗普先生今年3月签署的一项行政命令，该命令要求他的政府，包括邮政管理局和国土安全部，采取措施限制邮件投票。其中一项条款要求国土安全部编制并向选举官员发送各州居民中美国公民的具体名单，该条款已生效。
特朗普的行政命令是其政府为扩大联邦对选举的控制所采取的多项行动之一，尽管其中许多行动已在法庭上受到挑战。就在总统签署涉及邮件投票的指令后不久，23个州提起诉讼，寻求阻止该指令实施。
主持该案以及投票权利组织提起的另一项诉讼的塔尔瓦尼，在6月禁止特朗普政府实施该行政命令，包括涉及邮政管理局的条款。
但上个月，最高法院批准了司法部的请求，暂停了该裁决。最高法院按照意识形态路线分裂，称各州的诉讼为时过早。但保守派多数派并未就总统邮件投票政策的法律是非曲直作出裁决。
涉及邮政管理局最终规则的最新案件很可能在未来几周内再次提交给大法官们。
在周四的听证会开始时，司法部的律师表示，如果塔尔瓦尼不立即就初步禁令作出裁决，他们将跳过联邦上诉法院，直接请求最高法院介入。
代表得克萨斯州的律师建议塔尔瓦尼应让所有州自愿遵守规定。得克萨斯州与其他11个由共和党领导的州一同介入了此案，并为邮件投票规则辩护。
“那我们要在这次选举中进行试运行吗？”塔尔瓦尼问这位律师。“我们不是在玩智力拼图游戏。我们谈论的是人们的投票权。”
塔尔瓦尼后来补充道：“你想让我说‘好吧，让我们看看结果如何？’”，她将得克萨斯州的提议称为“试验场”和“实验”。
法官还对允许部分州遵守邮政管理局的要求表示担忧，因为这可能导致部分邮件选票被拒收。
“邮政管理局扣押选票对你们有什么好处？”她问道。“你希望你们州的选民被剥夺选举权吗？”
根据邮政管理局上个月为响应行政命令发布的最终规则，邮件选票必须遵守某些设计要求，包括个性化的唯一条形码，并且各州必须通过在线门户网站提交将收到邮件选票的选民姓名和地址。
选民还将被纳入各州专属的“邮寄和缺席投票参与名单”。该机构表示，其“不会在确定选民资格、维护选民名册或统计选票方面发挥任何作用”。
今年已在佛罗里达州选举中通过邮件投票的特朗普先生长期以来一直认为，对邮件投票的限制对于保护未来美国选举的选举完整性是必要的。特朗普政府并未提供广泛存在选民欺诈的证据。
该规则发布后不久，由24个民主党领导的州和哥伦比亚特区提起诉讼，称该措施非法。这些州辩称，这些规定干扰了它们根据自身法律管理选举的能力。
周四的辩论是在塔尔瓦尼暂时阻止邮政管理局执行相关要求之后进行的。塔尔瓦尼的命令原定持续14天，特朗普政府在命令发布后随即提起上诉。美国第一巡回上诉法院尚未就该上诉采取行动。
在8月27日发布的裁决中，法官表示，该规定“很可能违宪”，且对于仅两个多月后举行的11月中期选举来说，“实际上不可能”遵守。
她写道，各州“既没有时间也没有资金在中期选举前设计新的邮件选票、寻求新设计的批准、订购邮件选票的生产、更新自己的选举管理系统、培训选举官员使用邮政管理局的门户网站，并将公民数据上传到门户网站”。
根据选举创新与研究中心的数据，北卡罗来纳州的选举官员将于周五开始邮寄选票，其他几个州的选票也将在9月中旬左右寄出。
本周提交给民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔的一名举报人披露文件突显了实施新规定的时间紧迫。代表该举报人的“举报人援助组织”的律师称，这名举报人是一名联邦官员，他警告称，邮政管理局处理邮件选票的新系统可能存在“潜在灾难性问题”。
该官员还表示，新的验证程序可能会因为“零失败率”导致大量邮件选票无法送达选民。在披露文件中，举报人指控邮政管理局推进实施总统的指令，违反了塔尔瓦尼此前的命令。
投票权利组织已于周二将该披露文件提交给塔尔瓦尼。
Postal Service mail voting rules face extended block as judge presses DOJ
2026-09-03T13:52:00-0400 / CBS News
By Katrina Kaufman,
Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Read Full Bio
Updated on: September 3, 2026 / 3:27 PM EDT / CBS News
Boston — A federal judge on Thursday pressed the Justice Department on the Trump administration’s plans to impose new regulations for mail voting just weeks before the November midterms and echoed concerns that the measures could result in the disenfranchisement of voters.
Lawyers for the government and a group of Democratic-led states, joined by voting rights groups, appeared before U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani for a hearing in the ongoing legal battle over President Trump’s efforts to tighten the rules for mail voting, as Talwani weighs whether to continue blocking the new rule from the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the upcoming elections.
The states and voting rights groups challenging the regulations argue that the measure is unconstitutional and have moved for longer-term relief.
The judge declined to rule from the bench but said she would issue her order as soon as possible.
“I’m here 70 days before the election and I have nothing from USPS telling me how this will happen,” Talwani said.
In response to a request from Talwani for more information, Steven Monteith, the chief customer and marketing officer and executive vice president of the Postal Service, said in a declaration filed Thursday afternoon that the agency continues to “make refinements” to the portal and anticipates it will be available for voluntary use “by sometime next week.”
Monteith said the Postal Service is not “currently” mandating a review of mail ballot envelopes to ensure they comply with the rule, but states can “voluntarily” submit the envelopes to the agency to look over.
The legal battle arose out of an executive order Mr. Trump signed in March that tasked his administration, including the Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security, with taking steps to restrict mail voting. Among those steps, a provision calling for the Department of Homeland Security to compile and send to election officials state-specific lists of residents who are U.S. citizens has taken effect.
Mr. Trump’s executive order is part of several actions his administration has undertaken to expand federal control over elections, though many have been challenged in court. Shortly after the president signed the directive involving mail voting, a group of 23 states filed a lawsuit seeking to block it.
Talwani, who presided over that case and a different lawsuit brought by voting rights groups, barred the Trump administration in June from implementing the executive order, including the provisions involving the Postal Service.
But last month, the Supreme Court granted a Justice Department request to freeze that decision. The high court, divided along ideological lines, said that the states’ lawsuit was premature. But the conservative majority did not address the legal merits of the president’s policies for mail voting.
It’s likely that the latest case involving the Postal Service’s final rule lands back before the justices in the coming weeks.
At the beginning of Thursday’s hearing, lawyers for the Justice Department said that if Talwani does not issue her decision on a preliminary injunction right away, they will leapfrog the federal appeals court and ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
A lawyer representing Texas, which intervened in the case, along with 11 other Republican-led states, and is defending the mail-ballot rules, suggested that Talwani should make compliance optional in every state.
“So we’re going to do a test run on this election?” Talwani asked the lawyer. “We’re not playing an intellectual puzzle game. We’re talking about people’s right to vote.”
“You want me to say, ‘Well, let’s see how this works out?’” Talwani later added, referring to Texas’ proposal as a “laboratory” and “experiment.”
The judge also raised concerns about allowing some states to follow the Postal Service’s requirements given the prospect that some mail ballots could be rejected.
“How does USPS holding up the ballots help you?” she asked. “You want the voters in your state to be disenfranchised?”
Under the final rule published by the Postal Service last month in response to the executive order, mail ballots must adhere to certain design requirements, including individualized unique bar codes, and states must submit to an online portal the names and addresses of voters set to receive mail ballots.
Voters are also enrolled on state-specific “Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists.” The agency has said it “will not play any role in determining voter eligibility, maintaining voter rolls, or counting ballots.”
Mr. Trump, who has voted by mail this year in Florida’s elections, has long argued that the restrictions on mail voting are necessary to protect election integrity in future U.S. elections. The Trump administration has not put forth evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Shortly after the rule was published, a group of 24 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit arguing that the measure is unlawful. The states argued that the regulations interfere with their ability to administer elections under their own laws.
Thursday’s arguments came after Talwani temporarily blocked the Postal Service from enforcing the requirements. Talwani’s order, set to last 14 days, was appealed by the Trump administration shortly after being issued. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit has not yet acted on that appeal.
In her decision, issued Aug. 27, the judge said the regulation is “likely unconstitutional” and “practically impossible” to comply with for the November midterm elections, which are just over two months away.
The states, she wrote, “have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal, and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms.”
In North Carolina, election officials will begin mailing ballots Friday, and ballots will go out in several other states around mid-September, according to the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
The short time frame for implementation of the new regulations was underscored this week in a whistleblower disclosure submitted to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The whistleblower, described by lawyers from Whistleblower Aid as a federal official, warned there could be “potentially catastrophic problems” with the Postal Service’s new system for handling mail ballots.
The official also said the new verification process could keep large numbers of mail ballots from being delivered to voters because of a “zero percent failure rate.” In the disclosure, the whistleblower alleged that the Postal Service violated Talwani’s earlier orders by moving ahead with implementing the president’s directives.
Voting rights groups provided the disclosure to Talwani on Tuesday.