Michael Figlewicz drops his ballot at a ballot drop box outside the Deschutes Services Building in Bend, Ore., on May 19, 2026.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for President Trump’s executive order that would upend mail voting practices.
That could be a blow in an all-mail voting state like Oregon. But with 10 weeks to go until Election Day, the state’s top Democrats say there’s no reason to expect big changes in November.
“Oregon’s elections are secure, accurate, and fair. They will proceed as planned this November, free from any illegal federal interference,” Secretary of State Tobias Read, Oregon’s chief elections official, said in a statement Monday.
“Today’s court decision is a temporary setback, nothing more,” added Attorney General Dan Rayfield. “This fight is far from over.”
The statements came after the court’s conservative majority ruled that Oregon and other states moved too early when they challenged a March executive order on voting by Trump.
The court’s decision allowed the order to proceed, but maybe not for long. It left the door open for new court challenges that are certain to emerge once federal agencies move closer to putting the order into effect.
The ruling “does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority opinion said. “On that score, time will tell.”
The executive order at issue, signed in March, required the Secretary of Homeland Security to create lists of voting-age U.S. citizens and directed the federal Justice Department to potentially prosecute election officials who allow ineligible people to vote. Trump also directed the U.S. Postal Service to begin crafting rules altering ballot envelopes and requiring states to share lists of citizens able to vote by mail.
Oregon and nearly two dozen other states challenged the order in Massachusetts federal court, arguing Trump had no constitutional authority to dictate how states conduct elections. They ultimately convinced U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani to block the order from impacting midterm elections.
It’s that injunction that Supreme Court justices stayed on Monday. Most important for Oregon and other states, the ruling allows the USPS to continue to put forward rules that would mandate major changes to the state’s mail voting process.
But Read, Rayfield and Gov. Tina Kotek – all Democrats – said the decision should not worry voters, adding there is still opportunity to thwart any changes the postal service puts forward.
“We will continue to challenge this overreaching executive order in court with the Attorney General when the time is right,” Read said in a statement.
“Elections have always been, and always should be, up to the states,” Kotek said.
The governor, who is running for reelection in November, described Trump’s order as “unconstitutional and an assault on our democracy and designed to silence voters.”
The time for another court challenge may not be far off.
The Supreme Court opinion makes clear that, once the USPS issues a “final rule” under Trump’s order, it will be open to a lawsuit.
“If the Postal Service’s final rule harms the States, they may challenge that rule,” the opinion states.
The USPS unveiled that final rule last week. California’s attorney general, who led the initial lawsuit, is already promising another.
