The decision comes as Trump’s Republicans are locked in a tight battle to keep control of both houses of the US Congress in the November midterm elections.
The executive order signed by Trump on March 31 directed his administration to compile a list of confirmed US citizens eligible to vote in each state and to use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote.
It also required the US Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list, and required states to preserve election-related records for five years.
In urging Washington-based US District Judge Carl Nichols to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the measure, plaintiffs including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York argued that the order infringed on individual states’ rights to regulate elections under the US Constitution.
