# Federal agencies still deliberating Trump mail-voting order, DOJ says **Published:** 2026-05-05T09:45:29.000Z **Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/05/repub/federal-agencies-havent-started-on-trump-order-restricting-voting-by-mail-doj-says/) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/federal-agencies-still-deliberating-trump-mail-voting-order-doj-says Federal agencies are still in the deliberation phase on how to implement President Donald Trump's executive order restricting voting by mail, the Department of Justice argued in court Friday, according to [reporting from the Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/05/repub/federal-agencies-havent-started-on-trump-order-restricting-voting-by-mail-doj-says/). The DOJ filed documents asking a federal judge to dismiss a Democrat-led lawsuit against the March 31 order and to reject a request for a preliminary injunction blocking its implementation. In declarations filed with the court, officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service each stated they have not yet made final decisions on how to carry out the order. The Postal Service's chief customer and marketing officer said the agency "has not yet published a proposed rule" and hasn't reached final decisions about implementation. A DHS official stated the agency "has not yet begun preparation" of the citizenship lists the order requires. The executive order directs the Postal Service to restrict ballot delivery to voters listed on state-provided mail-in voter lists, and instructs Homeland Security to compile lists of voting-age U.S. citizens in each state using federal databases. [Trump signed the order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/ensuring-citizenship-verification-and-integrity-in-federal-elections/) March 31, citing concerns about noncitizen voting, though [research shows such voting is vanishingly rare](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/noncitizen-voting-vanishingly-rare). U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols scheduled a hearing for May 14 in Washington, D.C. Democrats and election experts have called the order unconstitutional and illegal, arguing it violates the Constitution's Elections Clause, which reserves voting administration to the states. The lawsuit was filed by Democratic groups and leaders in Congress, and the Postal Service is named as a defendant. [Last month, 37 Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter](https://www.merkley.senate.gov/merkley-wyden-democratic-colleagues-demand-usps-uphold-federal-law-over-president-trumps-illegal-executive-order-to-restrict-vote-by-mail/) to Postmaster General David Steiner and the Postal Service Board of Governors urging them not to implement the order, pointing out the president has no authority to regulate federal elections or the independent agency. The Postal Service's independence is central to the debate. [The agency's Board of Governors](https://about.usps.com/who/leadership/board-governors/)—not the White House—appoints and can remove the Postmaster General. [Board members serve seven-year staggered terms and are appointed by the president with Senate confirmation](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/202), a structure designed to insulate the agency from short-term political pressure. Republican attorneys general, led by Missouri's Catherine Hanaway, are defending the order, arguing the president has broad executive power over the Postal Service under what legal experts call the "unitary executive theory." At least five lawsuits challenge the order, and the case is expected to move quickly through federal courts ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. ## Sources - [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/05/repub/federal-agencies-havent-started-on-trump-order-restricting-voting-by-mail-doj-says/) - [White House executive order text on citizenship verification and voting](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/ensuring-citizenship-verification-and-integrity-in-federal-elections/) - [Brennan Center for Justice research on noncitizen voting](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/noncitizen-voting-vanishingly-rare) - [Senate Democrats' letter to USPS about Trump order](https://www.merkley.senate.gov/merkley-wyden-democratic-colleagues-demand-usps-uphold-federal-law-over-president-trumps-illegal-executive-order-to-restrict-vote-by-mail/) - [USPS Board of Governors overview](https://about.usps.com/who/leadership/board-governors/) - [Cornell Law - 39 U.S. Code on Postal Service Board of Governors](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/202) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/05/repub/federal-agencies-havent-started-on-trump-order-restricting-voting-by-mail-doj-says/.