Dem
51
Ties
3
GOP
46
Earlier this year, Donald Trump signed an XO ordering the USPS not to deliver absentee ballots unless the recipient was on a federal list of approved voters—despite there not being any constitutional or legal basis for this at all. The USPS complied and drew up a 95-page plan on how it would obey. On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, a Barack Obama appointee, made a blistering ruling (for the third time) that the XO is unconstitutional because states run elections and the president has no role in them. She also said that carrying out the XO would exceed the USPS' statutory authority, which requires it to deliver all properly franked mail that meets the USPS' size, weight, and content requirements. Trump filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 2 hours after Talwani's ruling. Trump also appealed one of her earlier rulings to his buddies on the Supreme Court.
Now a technical problem has arisen. On Friday, North Carolina sent out the absentee ballots. What is the USPS going to do with them? Store them somewhere and not deliver them, even though a judge has forbidden the USPS from doing that? If the USPS doesn't deliver them, could the judge hold Postmaster General David Steiner in contempt of court? If the USPS does deliver them and the Supreme Court eventually decides, Constitution or no Constitution, Trump can do whatever he pleases, then what? Does the state have to send out new ones? Could North Carolina use one system and other states a different one? The courts don't like that. It could get very messy. Nine other states will be sending out ballots in the next 2 weeks. By then, the window for pulling off this stunt will be closed for 2026—if it hasn't already.
Ben Hovland, a former commissioner on the Election Assistance Commission (whom Trump fired in July) said: "It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It's hard to even imagine. It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy." Separate from the federalism issue, ballots have been printed, envelopes have been printed, people and machines are stuffing. There is no way the rules could change at this late date and have it work. Millions of people would be disenfranchised. There would be chaos.
Nevertheless, the Republican-controlled North Carolina Board of Elections got in a final shot just before the ballots went out. It issued new guidelines for handling elections, something that is sure to cause confusion. The new guidelines provide new reasons to disqualify a ballot, for example, if the signature does not match the name on the application. This can affect people who have changed their name recently—for example, through marriage or divorce. Another change voids a ballot that is returned by someone other than the voter or a close relative. Democratic Board member Siobhan Millen, who dissented from the decision, said: "It may not affect you as you're filling it out, but it affects whether your ballot counts—that's huge. So, an effort to say this is just a process thing, I think is incorrect."
Absentee ballots are especially important in Western North Carolina due to the damage to roads and infrastructure done by Hurricane Helene in 2024, not all of which has been fully repaired. The closer we get to Election Day, the bigger the chaos will be unless Trump's plan is shot down for good, and fast. (V)