Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Fight Leaves Campaigns Guessing

“We’re all flying blind,” says one Democratic campaign consultant. 

“That’s the 8 million-vote question,” responds a Republican consultant when asked about how their party is adapting to the legal limbo. 

For over a year, President Donald Trump has been laying the groundwork for the U.S. Postal Service to take on a new role in deciding which mail-in ballots get to be counted, working off lists of citizens created by the Department of Homeland Security. It’s a process that experts predict would likely lead to the disenfranchisement of many legitimate voters. Most of them, it’s worth saying, are Democrats.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order that amounted to a procedural and preliminary win for Trump’s plan, but other courts have stepped in to block it on merits. The result is growing confusion over how, exactly, the votes might—or might not—be counted come November.

Some election experts insist that things are not as urgent as either side would have you believe. “I’m annoyed, but not freaked out,” says Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank. “The court’s ruling was a procedural one, with a great deal of legal back and forth to come. The executive order is still illegal and still unconstitutional.”