Why the Supreme Court ruling on mail voting won’t have an immediate impact in Maine
Maine's top election official is reassuring voters that the upcoming November election will proceed as planned, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for new federal restrictions on mail-in ballots.
Speaking to reporters at the State House in Augusta on Tuesday, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said a separate court injunction will keep the Trump administration's changes from taking effect before the 2026 election, and she predicted further legal battles ahead.
"This is not over, and we will see the Trump administration in court," Bellows said.
The high court ruled 6-3 on Monday in Trump v. California to allow President Donald Trump to move forward with an executive order aimed at tightening rules around mail-in voting. The order directs the U.S. Postal Service to set new standards for handling mail ballots and tasks the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with compiling lists of U.S. citizens that could be used to verify voter eligibility.
Trump has repeatedly pushed for restrictions on mail-in ballots, despite having voted by mail himself in past elections. He has also claimed without evidence that the American election system is rife with problems.
The Supreme Court's decision was not a final ruling on the legality of the order. Rather, justices found that the states challenging it did not have legal standing to bring the case.
Last Friday, the Postal Service published a 95-page rule outlining how it would carry out the order. Under that rule, the agency said it would refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter data with the federal government. Postal workers would also screen ballot envelopes for compliance with new specifications and confirm that recipients are enrolled to receive a mail ballot through the Postal Service.
However, the Postal Service said it would hold off on implementing any changes for the 2026 election while an injunction in a separate lawsuit, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, remains in effect.
Bellows said that means Maine's absentee voting process will look familiar to voters this fall. Absentee ballots are scheduled to become available on Oct. 4.
"For now, [this year's election] is business as usual," Bellows said.
She pushed back against the proposed changes, arguing they would create barriers for older Mainers, people with disabilities, and those with demanding schedules who rely on absentee voting.
"We are using the same envelopes we've always used," Bellows said. "Those have already been ordered, just as they have been in election jurisdictions all over the country. And we are certainly not about to turn over voter data into some federal database, as the Trump administration has been demanding now for some time."
The executive order in question, signed in March, was framed by the administration as a measure to ensure election integrity and verify citizenship in federal elections. Critics, including election officials in several states, have warned that the requirements could disenfranchise voters and disrupt well-established mail-in voting systems.
Bellows did not specify whether Maine would join any future legal challenge, but her remarks signaled that the state is prepared to push back. Maine has a long history of using mail-in ballots, with most municipalities conducting elections almost entirely by mail.
While the immediate effects on the 2026 election appear limited, the legal fight over the executive order is far from settled. Both the underlying case and the separate Massachusetts lawsuit are expected to wind their way through the courts in the coming months, leaving the future of mail-in voting rules uncertain well beyond this election cycle.
