Supreme Court leaves Arizona mail voting rules unchanged

What the ruling means

Arizona election officials say mail voting will continue as usual after the Supreme Court left in place a lower court order blocking new U.S. Postal Service ballot requirements.

The proposed requirements followed a March executive order from President Donald Trump. States would have needed to upload voters’ names, addresses and unique ballot-envelope barcodes to a new electronic portal that was not yet operating. The Postal Service could have refused ballots that did not pass the verification process.

The ruling keeps those requirements from taking effect as Arizona election offices prepare for the Nov. 3 election. Mail ballots are scheduled to go to overseas and military voters on Sept. 19.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said election offices had spent months preparing for the election and described the executive order as presidential overreach. Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly said she was relieved by the court’s action after her office spent weeks assessing the possible effects and responding to voters’ concerns.

Why mail voting matters in Arizona

Three out of four Arizona voters cast ballots by mail in the 2024 general election, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission reported. That makes any change to postal handling important for election offices and a large share of the state’s voters.

Two of the nine Supreme Court justices sided with the Trump administration. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately that even if the Postal Service had authority to impose the requirements, state and local officials lacked enough time to put them in place before the elections.

The Constitution gives states primary responsibility for running elections, while Congress also has authority to set election rules. Some states, including North Carolina and Alabama, had already sent certain ballots before the Supreme Court acted.