Attorney General Ellison sues United States Postal Service over unlawful attempt to interfere with states’ vote-by-mail procedures

Lawsuit seeks to block unconstitutional USPS rule that directs states to overhaul vote-by-mail procedures on an impossible timeline and risks disenfranchising eligible voters

August 26, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison today joined a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service (USPS) challenging its new rule that purports to grant USPS the authority to regulate mail voting in elections. 

Tens of millions of voters across the country rely on mail-in ballots, and the coalition argues USPS’s rule will prevent states from effectively administering their mail voting programs, putting eligible voters at risk of being disenfranchised. 

“Minnesota has a long, proud history of running elections that are free, fair, and secure, while Donald Trump only thinks election are legitimate if his side wins,” said Attorney General Ellison. “I will not sit back and allow Trump’s elections takeover Executive Order to stand, so once again, I’m taking the Trump administration to court. Trump’s executive order is a blatantly unconstitutional power grab and an attack on our freedom to vote. As long as I’m Attorney General of Minnesota, I will do everything in my power to defend our democracy.”

“Voting by mail is secure, accessible, and popular in Minnesota,” said Secretary of State Steve Simon. “Mail voting has been used in Minnesota since the Civil War, when soldiers sent ballots home from the battlefield. Over the past 150 years, state law has provided clear guidance to local election officials to provide this service to voters.  We have robust security measures in place to ensure only eligible voters are casting ballots including digitally tracking each ballot. While the USPS is a valued partner in providing Minnesotans with the convenience of voting from home - state and federal law give them no role in determining who gets that convenience.”

On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national voter list and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots only to voters on the list. On August 21, USPS finalized a new rule implementing the President’s demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes created by states, which states are required to meet and get approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-generated lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that fail to comply with the rule’s new standards. 

Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argue the rule inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. With the start of the general election season just three weeks away, states must bear the cost of redesigning their mail ballot envelopes and securing USPS review and approval before they can even register mail voters with USPS. Within a matter of weeks and without any additional resources, state election officials must also develop new systems to communicate mail-voter lists to USPS to ensure that every eligible voter who is entitled to a mail ballot receives one. States must also create new guidance for election officials, train them on the new procedures, and educate the public about the changes prior to the upcoming election. 

Even if states were to meet these enormous administrative and financial burdens, the rule could still result in eligible voters not receiving their ballots due to, for instance, administrative errors or flaws in the rushed and untested new procedures.

Over the past several decades, voting by mail has become more popular across the country. In the 2024 general election, 446,576 Minnesotans voted by mail. Since the inception of vote-by-mail, Congress has never exercised its authority to limit it, and in fact, has only taken action to expand and protect mail voting for military and overseas voters. Congress has also never authorized USPS to monitor or control the transmission of mail ballots.

The coalition argues that USPS’s rule violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections, and upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures. The lawsuit argues the rule is inconsistent with USPS’s governing statutes, ignores USPS’s procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and is inconsistent with federal voting rights law. The coalition asks the court to strike down the unlawful rule and issue a temporary restraining order preventing the rule from taking effect while the litigation proceeds. 

This USPS rule is the latest attempt by President Trump to exert federal control over elections and seize states’ constitutional authority to administer elections. In April, Attorney General Ellison joined a coalition of 24 states in suing the Trump Administration to block its unlawful Executive Order that prompted the creation of USPS’s rule. 

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing this lawsuit, which was co-led by the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.