Local election officials in Indiana are relieved after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled against an executive order that would have required last-minute changes to the state’s mail-in ballot process.
In the 7-2 decision, the high court upheld a federal judge’s injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from imposing new ballot requirements laid out in a March order from President Donald Trump.
The order would have required states to turn over lists of voters’ names and addresses to the Postal Service and have specific barcodes on ballot envelopes in order to have them delivered to voters.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was one of 11 state attorneys general to intervene in the case to defend the order. The White House said the changes were necessary to “prevent non-citizens from voting in Federal elections and to protect the security of mail-in and absentee ballots.”
In Indiana, county clerks’ offices begin sending out mail-in ballots on Saturday. Washington County Clerk Stephanie Rockey said it would have been “a nightmare” to implement those changes by then because the envelopes are already printed.
Finding suppliers that could print and deliver new envelopes before Saturday would have been virtually impossible, she said. Plus, her office has a strict election budget and wouldn’t have money to pay for new envelopes.
Rockey also worried about USPS having the capacity or expertise to take on new responsibilities of monitoring and vetting mail-in ballots.
“If they’re having issues with regular mail, then how are they going to be able to implement a new process?” she said.
Vigo County Clerk Elizabeth Stiverson agreed that enacting the changes before Saturday wasn’t feasible.
“I was crossing my fingers and hoping that everything could just stay as it already is planned,” she said.
In the 2024 general election, more than 180,000 Hoosiers voted by mail. In Vigo County during the 2026 May primary election, nearly 1,500 votes were cast by mail-in ballots, according to Stiverson.
“I’m not opposed to making changes if they’re needed, but give me enough time to do it,” she said.
But Starke County Clerk Bernadette Manuel, whose office usually sends out fewer than 80 mail-in ballots, said she wasn’t concerned about potential changes.
She believes the Trump administration would have allowed current ballot envelopes to be used in Indiana, since getting new ones by Saturday would have been impossible.
“You can’t demand something that you can’t have when you got to have it within 24 hours,” Manuel said.
Indiana would have been less impacted by the order than states like Utah and Oregon, where every voter is sent a mailed ballot well in advance of Election Day to mail back or drop off. Eight states and Washington, D.C., allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail.
In Indiana, voters who want a mail-in ballot have to have a state-designated reason for requesting one, like taking care of a sick person or being over 65 years old. Hoosiers have until Oct. 22 to request a mailed ballot.
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FPI News reporter Carson Gerber covers healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, immigration … and just about any other topic that’s shaping how we live in Indiana today. Reach him at 765-204-4250 or carson.gerber@fpinews.org.
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