Statement on federal ruling striking down Trump's Executive Order on mail-in voting

OLYMPIA — Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs applauded a federal ruling Thursday that blocks President Trump’s unconstitutional March 2026 Executive Order on mail-in voting for the November General Election.

The order and a proposed rule by the U.S. Postal Service would require states to submit lists of voters who are eligible to receive ballots to the USPS. 

This would give the federal government control over who can and cannot vote by mail. 

At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Postmaster General David Steiner said the Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that refused to turn over their voter rolls.

In a multi-state lawsuit co-led by Washington state, a judge ruled that neither the President nor the Postal Service has the constitutional authority to enact these requirements, and that the USPS must continue delivering mail-in ballots to all Washington voters.

“The Postal Service’s founding mission was to ‘bind the nation together.’ Now, the federal government is using it as a tool to try and take over our free and fair elections,” Secretary Hobbs said.

“I applaud today’s ruling. I will continue to fight to protect Washington voters’ private information and our state’s constitutional right to administer elections.”