United States President Donald Trump has long speculated against the American electoral system. In 2020, after being defeated by Democrat Joe Biden, he cast doubt on votes cast by mail, citing that they would be subject to fraud.
Now, upon returning to power, the Republican has proposed a new rule to restrict voting by mail, carried out by the US Postal Service (USPS). The US Supreme Court, however, rejected the Trumpist venture, in a decision taken last Monday (14).
The highest body of American justice considered an appeal by the Department of Justice to overturn a decision by federal judge Indira Talwani, from Boston, which prevented the USPS from implementing the measure proposed by Washington. Of the nine members of the Supreme Court, only two accepted the government’s arguments.
For the body, the executive order proposed by Trump could even be considered legal in the future, but electoral authorities would not have enough time to implement the changes before the midterm elections, scheduled for November 3rd.
Proposal faced opposition
At the beginning of the year, Trump decided to assert his accusations without evidence against the US electoral system. At that time, he was responsible for signing an executive order that states must provide the USPS with lists of recipients of mail-in ballots. The measure was intended to make envelopes used to mail and return ballots contain unique barcodes.
In practice, the USPS could stop delivering ballots that did not meet the new standards or were associated with voters who were on lists previously provided by states. This dynamic has to do with the fact that US states not only allow voting by mail, but many of them authorize voters to request a ballot by mail, without providing justification for the request.
The reaction was immediate. The country’s electoral authorities argued that there was no way to overhaul the system with just a few months to go before the November election. States like Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin, for example, have already sent ballots to voters. Furthermore, under the U.S. Constitution, authority over administering elections rests with the states, not the federal government.
Entities defending the US electoral system have argued, over the past few weeks, that Trump’s measure could interrupt the delivery of thousands of ballots to voters, causing problems in the upcoming election. There is, mainly, the political component of the measure: historically, Democratic voters tend to prefer the mail-in voting method, compared to Republican voters. Despite criticism, Trump himself usually votes by mail.
Decision on the eve of the midterm elections
This week’s decision is a victory for states governed by the Democratic Party, which went to court to block the aforementioned executive order. The Trump administration, in turn, demanded several times for a quick and favorable decision in the case.
Time, in fact, does not favor the republican government. A Reuters/Ipsos survey released this Tuesday (15), which interviewed 1,143 US citizens and has a margin of error of three percentage points, showed that 44% said they intend to vote for the Democratic Party in the November elections, while 37% said they intend to vote for the Republican Party.
The advantage is the biggest since Trump returned to the White House in January last year. The president has a majority in both Houses of the US Congress, but the expectation is that the government will be defeated, at least, in the country’s Chamber.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
