WA officials applaud U.S. Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots

Washington’s Democratic officials cheered Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to spike the Trump administration’s plan to reshape mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections.

In a brief written order, the court declined to hear the federal administration’s appeal to allow the U.S. Postal Service to proceed with new regulations governing how states conduct vote-by-mail elections.

It was welcome news for Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who has warned the new regulations were unnecessary and would have upended the November election, with ballots and envelopes already being printed.

“For Washington voters, the message is simple: Nothing is changing about Washington elections right now,” Hobbs said in prepared remarks. “Voters will continue to receive their ballots by mail, and I encourage every eligible Washingtonian to make a plan to vote: go to VoteWA.gov to check your voter registration and find official ballot drop boxes near you.”

“This is a victory for this year’s election, but I know the broader fight is not over,” he added.

State Attorney General Nick Brown, who sued the Trump administration over the Postal Service regulations, called the court’s order “a huge win for orderly elections this November.”

“State and local elections officials can now focus on what they do best — administering legitimate elections that count every eligible ballot cast,” Brown said in written remarks. “Our office will remain vigilant around any other attempts by this administration to meddle in the current election while we continue the longer court fight against the administration’s illegal attack on mail-in voting.”

Elections experts have cautioned that the Trump administration could still find other ways to involve itself in the elections. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced heightened efforts to find voter fraud in Washington state. State election officials said the same agency has stopped sharing intelligence about threats to America’s voting systems, like it used to.

David Becker, of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, has raised the prospect that the Trump administration could find ways to interfere with states’ counting and certification of votes, and potentially the seating of duly elected members of Congress come January.

Asked this summer when he would consider the midterm election finished and decided, Becker said: “I think probably Jan. 3, 2027, when Congress gets sworn in.”

In a statement Monday, State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad hailed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it “protects that system from Trump’s attempts to rig the 2026 midterms.”

“Every Washington voter should breathe a sigh of relief that Trump’s desperate plan to throw vote by mail elections into chaos has failed,” she added in prepared remarks.

Washington state Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh, who has said he supported the president’s efforts to regulate ballots to make sure noncitizens aren’t voting, said Monday’s ruling doesn’t change his advice to voters this election.

Walsh, like some Republicans in Washington, would like to see a return to more in-person voting. But Walsh said he has heard general concerns about the mail getting delivered more slowly and urged voters to return their ballots early, if they can.

“I still recommend that voters not count on the Postal Service to return their ballots,” Walsh said in a phone interview. “Take it to a ballot box run by the county.”