Voting Rights Advocates Continue Legal Challenges to Executive Order Restricting Mail-in Ballots

Millions of votes could be thrown out in the upcoming midterm elections if the Trump administration has its way of restricting eligibility without any valid reasons

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday July 22, 2026

Political Review

Claims of non-citizens voting in federal elections has been a false claim made by the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) tendency for at least a decade.

When the current United States President Donald Trump won his first term of office in 2016, he failed to win the majority of popular votes and was placed in office strictly on his numbers within the electoral college. 

Even after being placed in the White House in 2017, Trump declared that his deficit in popular votes was due to massive fraud where people who were not qualified were able to cast ballots. Just four years later in 2020, he declared that the national elections were stolen since he lost by seven million popular votes and over 100 electoral. 

Since taking office in January 2025 for his second non-consecutive term, Trump has issued numerous executive orders to curtail bourgeois democratic rights. He has declared that the 14th Amendment birthright citizenship clause should be revoked which a recent Supreme Court decision declared unconstitutional.

In March there was another executive order which called upon the United States Postal Services (USPS) to not deliver absentee ballots in states where data from voters’ rolls are not first approved by the administration. Obviously, this executive order is designed to counter the low approval ratings among the electorate for the Trump administration. 

This executive order directly challenges the role of the states in conducting, tabulating and transmitting votes in any given federal election. If this executive order is upheld by the courts, it would mean that the White House would determine which votes are legitimate or illegitimate. 

Such authority over voting rights could easily determine which party controls Congress in the upcoming year. Even though there is widespread opposition to the US-backed genocide in Palestine and the unprovoked illegal war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the MAGA administration would be allowed to continue its domestic and foreign policy agenda.

Restrictions on mail-in ballots would undoubtedly enhance the already widespread redrawing of Congressional maps in the several southern states aimed at massive disenfranchisement of African American voters. These political maneuvers are taking place 61 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was won through mass struggles that emerged during the late 1950s into the middle of the next decade.

A federal district court decision in late June was praised by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since the ruling appeared to uphold existing voting rights laws related to mail-in ballots. The President and CEO of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, issued the following statement on June 25 saying:

"Donald Trump's desperate attempt to hijack the United States Postal Service and use it as a tool for voter suppression was a clear overreach of executive power. The Constitution is unequivocal– states run our elections, not the President. Mail-in voting, which has been used by the president, is a secure, vital lifeline for millions of citizens — particularly Black voters, working families, elderly residents, and rural communities who already face immense systemic barriers at the ballot box. By stopping this unlawful executive order, the court has halted an aggressive attempt to breed chaos, delegitmize local election officials, and mass-disenfranchise eligible voters. The NAACP will remain a fierce advocate in courtrooms and communities across this nation to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot freely, fairly, and with full confidence that it will be delivered and counted." (https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-celebrates-federal-court-ruling-striking-down-executive-order-threatening-mail)

The Struggle Continues

Demonstrations of millions against the administration have taken place since the spring of 2025. Many Congressional races over the last several months have resulted in victories for progressive Democrats who have run in primary and general elections. 

Despite the unpopularity of the current administration and its policies, a California Appeals Court recently ruled in favor of some aspects of the Trump executive order on mail-in ballots. Yet, other legal challenges are continuing in California and around the country.

In a statement issued by a coalition of voter rights groups in Massachusetts on July 21, it emphasizes that:

“A coalition of nonpartisan voting rights groups renewed their urgent request for a preliminary injunction to block the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from implementing portions of President Trump’s 2026 executive order restricting mail-in voting. Their motion argues that the executive order is unconstitutional, unlawful, and harmful to voters and the organizations that serve them. The motion filed late yesterday is the second time the groups have asked the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for a preliminary injunction. Their first request was denied earlier this month on the grounds that USPS was already barred from carrying out the executive order due to a preliminary injunction issued in separate litigation in the District of Columbia. However, the District of Massachusetts court expressly said the groups could refile their request for relief if the injunction in the D.C. case was stayed. On July 17, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed that injunction, allowing USPS to move forward in implementing President Trump’s order in some states.” (https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/voting-rights-groups-file-renewed-request-for-preliminary-injunction-to-block-executive-order-restricting-mail-in-ballots/)

Yet, the inconsistency of the courts cannot be relied upon to protect voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was won as a result of tremendous sacrifice. 

People were jailed, beaten and killed just to be able to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice. By 1965, urban rebellions were emerging as the principal form of struggle against racial injustice and class exploitation in the U.S. 

In subsequent court challenges from civil rights organizations prompted the redrawing of Congressional maps which could provide greater opportunities for African Americans to elect candidates from their communities. The recently handed down Louisiana v. Callais ruling has severely restricted the ability of African Americans to elect candidates since in states such as Tennessee, the MAGA majority state legislature has been allowed to break up a majority Black Congressional district surrounding Memphis.

Since the African American community typically votes for Democratic candidates, the administration in Washington is utilizing this Supreme Court decision to maintain their control over the House of Representatives and Senate. Since the MAGA Republican politicians rarely oppose Trump and his policies, one can only assume that if left up to the Congress, the domestic repression carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) along with the imperialist wars in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Ukraine will continue in perpetuity.

Mass Actions and Electoral Politics

It must be emphasized that the right to vote for African Americans and Women was achieved through militant demonstrations and various forms of civil disobedience. The Civil War between 1861-1865 set the stage for the passage of the 13th Amendment which ostensibly declared involuntary servitude as being unconstitutional.

The 14th Amendment passed by Congress in 1868 was designed to solidify the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which aimed at guaranteeing equal rights and due process to African Americans.  Later in 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified to protect voting rights for the formerly enslaved persons in the U.S.

Nonetheless other methods of resistance have taken place over the last 70 years involving the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements. Economic boycotts have proven effective as what was done in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955-56 involving the city buses.

Beginning in 1960, students launched the sit-in campaigns to break down legalized segregation in public accommodations. Mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama and other southern municipalities from 1963-65 were always accompanied by economic boycotts of businesses within the cities.

In the mid-to-late 1960s, urban rebellions led by African Americans placed a sense of urgency to the ruling class for the implementation of reforms in regard to open housing, affirmative action and admissions to previously all-white municipal, corporate and educational institutions. Once admitted to these sectors of the labor market, many African Americans have sought to improve the operations of these public and private entities.

Underlying the ongoing crises, it is important to continue applying pressure on the ruling class through legal challenges, mass demonstrations, economic boycotts and urban rebellions. Absent of these tactics and others, there cannot be an effective fightback to the rising racism, national oppression and economic exploitation still prevalent in U.S. society.