CHICAGO () — With only seven weeks remaining before the midterm elections, the Supreme Court dealt President Trump a setback by blocking efforts to restrict mail-in voting.
“Elections will proceed as they always would have,” ABC7 Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said.
Trump’s proposal would have required states to use a standardized envelope design and upload lists of eligible voters to a portal operated by the U.S. Postal Service. The rules are now on hold.
“The Supreme Court says we’re not going to interfere; we’re going to let the process proceed as it will without the new rules in effect,” Soffer said.
The decision allows states to move forward with sending mail-in ballots before the midterm elections.
“What we want is everybody that’s eligible — Republican, Democrat, or Independent — to be able to go vote,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told Eyewitness News on Tuesday.
Pritzker also pledged to keep opposing Trump’s efforts.
“Donald Trump wants to stand in the way of you exercising your right as a citizen in Illinois. We’re trying to make it so that you can exercise that right,” Pritzker said.
Trump criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling, calling it a major loss for Republicans and taking aim at the justices who issued it.
“These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They are merely a shell of their original selves.”
The ruling came as vote-by-mail ballots were only days away from arriving in mailboxes and as Tuesday marked National Voter Registration Day.
Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon joined rap artist Che “Rhymefest” Smith in a new video aimed at encouraging young people to register and vote.
“I think this is an attempt to get the word out as early as possible to encourage younger people to vote,” ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington said.
Washington noted that turnout in midterm elections has historically been low, with participation typically driven by committed party supporters.
“The casual voters often stay at home, so there are going to be a lot of attempts to get people energized beyond the usual suspects, and get them out to vote on both sides of the aisle,” Washington said.
Washington also said the debate surrounding vote-by-mail ballots is not over and predicted it will pick up again for the presidential election.
