SACRAMENTO, CA – A U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration's mail-voting order to move forward does not immediately change how California voters cast absentee ballots, but it has led to a week of legal and electoral whiplash.
It comes as California election officials prepare to mail ballots for the important Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The Supreme Court on Monday lifted an order that had blocked parts of President Donald Trump's March executive order governing mail and absentee voting. The justices did not decide whether the president has the constitutional authority to impose the changes.
The administration immediately issued a formal rule determining the conditions under which the U.S. Postal Service will deliver states' mail ballots. It instantly restarted the legal fight, and on Wednesday, California Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in challenging the rule .
Trump's order requires state and local election officials to redesign and reprint their ballot envelopes, enroll millions of voters with USPS, and directs USPS to reject ballot mailings that do not meet these requirements, as directed by President Donald Trump's second elections-related Executive Order.
On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the coalition of states' request for a temporary restraining order.
"From the beginning, it's been clear that President Trump doesn't understand how elections work. He's repeatedly broken the law, so we've repeatedly taken him to court," said Bonta. "On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order on the emergency docket stating we brought our lawsuit too early but did not address the merits of our challenge to the President's executive order seeking to impose additional, unlawful restrictions on the ability to vote by mail. Just two days later, consistent with that order, we sued to stop the illegal USPS rule in its tracks. Today, the district court blocked the rule, making it clear that President Trump must keep his hands off our elections. The right to vote is a foundational principle of our democracy, and we're making sure it remains protected for everyone."
The confusion and legal wrangling was ignited Monday when the U.S Supreme Court concluded that the 23 states challenging the order, which included California, sued too soon and had not shown the kind of concrete, imminent harm necessary to bring their claims when the lawsuit was filed.
The Supreme Court ruling covered several parts of Trump's election order, but the piece most relevant to mail voting involved the Postal Service.
When the states sued, Trump had only directed the USPS to develop new rules for mailed ballots. The Postal Service finalized a rule requiring election offices to use approved, trackable envelopes for federal ballots and submit ballot-mailing information through a federal portal, but a separate federal court injunction currently prevents USPS from implementing those changes for the 2026 election.
The Trump administration is seeking to have that order lifted, and additional litigation is expected.
If Trump's rule is allowed to take effect, state and local election offices would have to comply with the new envelope, barcode and reporting requirements. Voters would not have to sign up with USPS, and the Postal Service would not decide who is eligible to vote.
The reporting requirement is likely to draw particular scrutiny because the Trump administration is already collecting statewide voter-registration data through a separate Justice Department effort. The states that have fully complied so far are Republican-led. Iowa, for example, turned over its voter file in May, including sensitive identifying information.
The USPS rule would require a different disclosure: information identifying voters being sent mail ballots and the barcodes associated with those ballots.
The practical concern is that USPS could reject batches of ballots that do not meet the new requirements, forcing election officials to correct and resend them — a potentially significant problem as ballot-mailing dates approach.
California election officials are scheduled to begin mailing absentee/mail ballots.
On Monday, Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber said while legal challenges continue in the courts, California's election rules will remain the same.
"At a time when voter confidence is already fragile, the Supreme Court is giving a green light to President Trump's attempts to take over our election system and sow distrust in state elections. This unconstitutional power grab threatens to disenfranchise California voters, and it will not stand," Weber said in a statement.
"Today's Supreme Court ruling says nothing about the lawfulness of President Trump's Executive Order; it only addresses the timing of the States' challenge. California will continue to pursue all available options and fight against this unlawful Executive Order.
Rest assured California's elections officials will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that every eligible California voter has the right to cast a mail ballot and have that vote count," she continued.
Importantly, the Supreme Court's Monday ruling does not uphold Trump's mail-voting policies as constitutional.
The court's conservative majority instead focused on whether the states had standing to challenge the executive order when they filed their lawsuit.
The court said the executive order itself largely directed federal officials to take future actions and did not require states to do anything.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Postal Service had not adopted its final rule, so the majority said predictions about how the federal government would ultimately implement the order — and how states would be affected — were too speculative.
That leaves open the possibility of new challenges based on actions federal agencies have taken since then.
The timing could make those fights significant. The first ballots for military and overseas voters are scheduled to begin going out in early September, followed by absentee and mail ballots for other voters under individual state deadlines.
For now, voters should continue following California's existing instructions for requesting and returning mail or absentee ballots unless state or local election officials announce a change.
In California, any active registered voter is eligible to vote using a vote-by-mail ballot. The Secretary of State recommends voters postmark their ballots by election day and mail it at least five days before Nov. 3, 2026.
The California Secretary of State has not yet announced when ballots for the Nov. 3, 2026 election will be mailed to voters.
The deadline to request a mail/absentee ballot is Oct. 27, 2026.
A completed ballot returned by mail must be postmarked on or before Nov. 3, 2026, and received by voters' county elections office no later than Nov. 10, 2026.
Voters may also return ballots personally by close of polls on Nov. 3, 2026.
California offers an online system allowing voters to track the status of their mail ballot. Voters can visit the state's "Where's My Ballot" website for more information.
Voters should check with the Secretary of State or their local election office for the latest instructions because the federal court fight remains unresolved.
The Postal Service separately recommends that voters allow enough time for both delivery of the ballot to the voter and its return to the election office and follow deadlines and instructions established by their state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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