Gracie Fusco
•8/25/2026
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, (WINK) —WINK News is Campaign Central, and a new Supreme Court decision could change how mail-in voting works ahead of the midterms.
The high court is allowing President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting to move forward, at least for now. For Southwest Florida voters, nothing changes immediately.
The big question is whether the administration can actually put the new restrictions into place before ballots start going out. Mail ballots are set to start going out in the coming weeks.
President Trump's executive order would have the federal government create lists of people eligible to vote, then cross-check those lists with voter registration records. The goal is to only deliver mail ballots to people who meet the requirements.
A federal judge previously blocked the order after Democratic-led states sued. However, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, lifted that injunction.
Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett says the court is not ruling on whether the order is constitutional.
"The U.S. Supreme Court says that President Trump and the executive agencies in question can move ahead with his plan, but that their lawsuits may be filed again in the future and that they may stop it," Jewett said. "Even if President Trump moves forward, and the Department of Homeland Security moves forward, and the Post Office moves forward, and everybody moves forward on this, they may not have enough time to really implement this."
The timing matters locally because the Collier County Supervisor of Elections says the county will start sending mail ballots to overseas voters Sept. 19. The first batch of domestic ballots is set to go out Sept. 24.
For Lee County, domestic ballots are set to go out Sept. 29.
That gives the federal government just a few weeks to put any new requirements into place. For now, Collier County says those mailing dates are still on track.
This legal fight isn't over, and the rules could still change.
