Judge blocks Trump executive order on mail-in voting

Washington — A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order that would impose stricter mail-in voting rules and create a federal list of eligible voters in every state. The order, signed by President Trump in March, required Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to compile a list of U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state using data from the Social Security Administration. It also directed the U.S. Postal Service to send absentee ballots only to people on each state's federally prepared and approved mail-in ballot list. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said the Trump administration cannot take any steps to implement those two provisions of the executive order. Talwani, an Obama nominee, said the executive and legislative branches lack authority over voter rolls. Talwani sided with twenty-three states and the District of Columbia, which sued to block the order's implementation. "It is clear that the federal agencies charged with compiling Confirmed Citizen Lists lack the ability to create complete and accurate lists of the U.S. citizens residing in every state," Talwani said in a 37-page opinion issued Thursday. "Both Congress and the president lack any role regarding voter eligibility." In no federal statute, Talwani said, "does Congress authorize the federal government to create their own voting database. …