WASHINGTON, United States – The U.S. Postal Service has stopped work on a computer system designed to support new federal requirements for mail-in ballots after the Supreme Court left a lower-court injunction blocking the rules in place.
Postmaster General David Steiner said Thursday that USPS was no longer developing the system while the court order remained in effect. He said the agency would continue following its established procedures for election mail during the 2026 federal elections.
The system was being developed as part of President Donald Trump’s March executive order directing changes to federal election procedures. USPS had spent months building a Federal Ballot Mail Portal through which states would provide information about voters receiving ballots by mail.
The Supreme Court’s Sept. 14 order denied the administration’s request to lift a preliminary injunction against the USPS rule. The court said the government was unlikely to succeed in its challenge to the lower-court order and that the factors required for emergency relief did not favor a stay.
USPS halts development
Steiner told The Associated Press that the agency had stopped work because of the injunction.
The decision effectively ends USPS implementation work on the new system for the 2026 federal election unless the court orders otherwise.
A memo sent to postal employees after the Supreme Court ruling said the agency would not enforce the new requirements during this year’s federal election and would continue using established election-mail procedures.
That means states will continue sending and receiving mail ballots under their existing election systems rather than moving to the new federal portal and associated USPS requirements.
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What the proposed system would have changed
The USPS rule was designed to establish new federal requirements for election mail.
Under the final rule, states would have been required to use specified envelope features, including an election-mail logo, compatibility with high-speed scanning equipment and a unique barcode for each voter. States also would have had to submit envelope designs to USPS for review.
The rule also required states to provide USPS with basic information about voters receiving mail ballots through a federal portal.
USPS would then compare ballot mailings with the information supplied by states. Mail that did not comply with the requirements could be rejected and returned to the state for correction.
USPS had previously described the portal as a tool for election officials to securely provide lists of people receiving ballots by mail. The agency said in early September that it was finalizing the system while complying with court orders.
Supreme Court leaves rule blocked
The Supreme Court’s latest action did not resolve every underlying legal question surrounding the USPS rule.
The court was considering the administration’s request for emergency relief from a preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court. By denying that request, the justices left the injunction in effect while the broader litigation continues.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with denying the government’s request but wrote separately that there was “at least a fair prospect” that the final USPS rule fell within the agency’s statutory authority. He concluded, however, that applying the rule to the 2026 elections would violate the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials did not have enough time to implement it properly.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision to leave the injunction in place.
The ruling therefore prevents the new USPS requirements from being applied to the 2026 federal election while leaving the underlying legal dispute capable of continuing beyond this election cycle.
Trump order triggered the dispute
The dispute began with Trump’s March executive order directing federal agencies to take steps concerning citizenship verification and federal elections.
The order directed USPS to begin rulemaking on requirements for federal ballot mail, including new envelope and barcode standards and a process under which states would provide voter information to the Postal Service.
USPS subsequently issued its final Federal Ballot Mail Rule in August.
Several states and voting organizations challenged the rule in federal court, arguing that USPS had exceeded its authority and that the new requirements could interfere with state-administered election systems.
The administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the rule to take effect while the litigation continued. The justices rejected that request on Sept. 14.
USPS says normal election-mail operations continue
Steiner said the Postal Service would continue its regular election-mail responsibilities.
The agency has also continued recommending barcodes and other processing features for election mail on a voluntary basis. Those recommendations are separate from the mandatory requirements contained in the blocked federal rule.
Steiner also encouraged voters who use mail ballots to send them early, citing concerns about postal processing times. He recommended allowing roughly seven days for ballots to move through the mail system.
The immediate effect of the Supreme Court’s ruling is therefore operational: USPS will not implement the new federal mail-ballot system for the 2026 election while the injunction remains in force.
The longer-term question of how much authority the Postal Service has to impose federal requirements on election mail remains part of the ongoing legal dispute.
Reporting Credit: U.S. Supreme Court — Sept. 14, 2026 order in United States Postal Service v. California; U.S. Postal Service — Federal Ballot Mail Rule and Federal Ballot Mail Portal statements; U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner — Sept. 17, 2026 operational update on the halted system.
