Three months before the US midterm elections, a judge blocked US President Donald Trump's plans to tighten the mail-in voting regime.
The Boston court extended the currently valid ban on Trump's planned rules from 23 states to all 50. It also rejected the government's right to regulate elections.
To prevent election fraud?
Trump wants to push his intention even before the November congressional elections. He justifies the planned changes with the desire to prevent electoral fraud, but his critics identify the motive as more of a targeted harm to Democratic Party voters, writes ARD.
The Supreme Court will have the final say, notes the German public media. The Ministry of Justice has appealed to the Supreme Court, expecting to receive the green light for comprehensive changes to electoral law.
It is about the distribution of ballot papers
At the end of March, Trump ordered the US Postal Service (USPS) to send ballot papers by mail only to persons appearing on the electoral list compiled by the respective states - i.e. the mail from a regular provider to become a controller of the electoral procedure, explains ARD. The specific rules are yet to be worked out, but with its temporary injunction the court prohibited the USPS from implementing Trump's order.
During the midterm elections on November 3, about a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives are to be renewed, the German public media writes. Due to the minimal majority of Republicans in both chambers of parliament, even one term could be decisive for who ultimately has a say in Congress, or whether the Democrats could thwart the leading political intentions of Trump and his Republicans.
ARD