With the U.S. midterm elections just about two months away, the Donald Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency intervention to allow the implementation of mail-in voting restrictions.

As some states are scheduled to begin mailing out ballots soon, legal battles surrounding mail-in voting regulations are intensifying, raising concerns over growing confusion in the electoral field.

On the 3rd local time, the Trump administration filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court requesting a stay on a Massachusetts federal court ruling that temporarily blocked the implementation of new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) regulations regarding mail-in voting.

In March, President Trump issued an executive order granting the Postal Service the authority to refuse delivery of ballots to states that fail to submit voter lists or follow a standardized ballot envelope format.

In response, 23 states led by Democratic governors and voting rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit, arguing that the Trump administration was encroaching upon state election management authority.

In June, a federal district court in Massachusetts issued an injunction halting the enforcement of the order, and a federal appeals court upheld the measure last month.

However, on August 24, the Supreme Court sided with the administration, ruling that the lower courts' injunctions were premature because specific implementation regulations from the Postal Service had not yet been issued.

After the Postal Service subsequently released detailed regulations, Democrats filed a lawsuit once again, and a Massachusetts federal court suspended the implementation of the new rules for two weeks on August 27.

This prompted the Trump administration to once again ask the Supreme Court to intervene against the federal court's preliminary injunction blocking the new mail-in voting rules.

The Department of Justice refuted claims that the regulations infringe upon state election management authority, stating that the new rules are merely "limited requirements regarding envelope design and recipient information."

The DOJ also argued before the Supreme Court that "the regulations clearly do not usurp state election administration authority" but rather "simply establish reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail."

On the other hand, some states and local governments are pushing back, arguing that with ballots and envelopes already printed, it is difficult to completely overhaul their systems just two months before the election.

Particularly in North Carolina, actual voting procedures are beginning as ballots are sent out starting on the 4th to voters who applied for mail-in ballots, putting the Supreme Court in a position where it must make a swift decision.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)