WASHINGTON—The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday refused to lift a lower-court injunction, blocking the Trump administration from implementing new mail-in voting restrictions and leaving existing voting procedures in place for the midterm elections.
The decision hands a direct win to Democratic-aligned groups and voting rights organizations. Among them, the Forward Progress PAC spent $75 million on mail-in ballot education and mobilization in the last election cycle, according to campaign finance disclosures.
For Republican strategists and conservative groups pushing stricter ballot access, the ruling is a setback. Organizations like the Election Integrity Alliance, backed by the Koch network, have invested heavily lobbying state legislatures for tighter in-person voting requirements. They now face an uphill fight in states where the injunction applies.
The lower court's June injunction targeted several provisions of the president's executive order on mail-in voting, ruling them unconstitutional. The appeals court's refusal to intervene keeps those provisions blocked through at least November.
Control of both the House and Senate hangs in the balance this fall. Mail-in access could sway close races in battleground states where a few thousand votes decide outcomes.
Higher turnout driven by mail-in options has historically favored the party with stronger grassroots infrastructure—and this ruling preserves that edge for groups that have built out absentee ballot programs.
