President Donald Trump acknowledges potential legal challenges to his mail-in voting executive order, but signs it in anticipating of objection by 'rogue judges.'

EXCLUSIVE: A conservative legal group urged the U.S. Postal Service this week to carry out President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots, saying the USPS has an obligation to block possible "fraudulent ballots" ahead of this year's midterms.

America First Legal laid out in a petition filed with the USPS and obtained by Fox News Digital that the postal service has the independent authority to impose restrictions on mail-in ballots, including by requiring barcode tracking on ballot envelopes and cross-checking ballot recipients against federally-approved voter registration lists.

The petition comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to tighten election security rules over concerns about ineligible voters casting ballots. It aims to ramp up pressure on the postal service to use its regulatory authority to unilaterally advance those efforts as the president’s executive order faces multiple lawsuits brought by blue states and voting rights groups.

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER OVERHAULING MAIL-IN VOTING IN MAJOR ELECTION INTEGRITY PUSH

President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2026. The order aims to make it harder for voters to cast mail-in ballots. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg)

"Federal law gives every interested individual the right to file a petition for rulemaking with federal agencies," America First Legal senior counsel James Rogers said in a statement. "Our petition gives the Postal Service the authority to implement these common-sense reforms, even in the face of this frivolous litigation against President Trump."

AFL’s petition came after Trump issued an executive order last month directing the USPS to work with states on mail-ballot procedures tied to state-submitted voter eligibility lists, while separately calling on DHS and the Social Security Administration to help states verify citizenship data.

The executive order, titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," also required the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to coordinate with states to create a master list of registered voters. The order has become the subject of intense litigation.

SENATE GOP EYES BLAME GAME AS TRUMP-BACKED SAVE ACT HEADS FOR DEFEAT

Vote by mail ballots are inspected at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center in City of Industry, Calif., on Nov. 4, 2025. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Voting rights groups immediately sued, calling it "an extraordinary and abusive assertion of executive power over the administration of federal elections" and arguing that the Constitution gives states, not the president, authority over federal election administration.

While the White House has framed the executive order as an effort to bolster election integrity, other lawsuits, brought by a coalition of blue states led by California, Democratic lawmakers and national Democratic campaign committees, accused Trump of attempting to reduce mail-in voting. Voting by mail has become more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic, when states expanded voters' ability to cast ballots by mail because of what they said was a public health emergency. Trump called the policy changes an effort to "rig" the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump protest near the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 31, 2023, following reports of a grand jury indictment related to hush money payments. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

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"President Trump has tried again and again to rewrite election rules for his own perceived partisan advantage. If only he could ban mail voting—a favorite scapegoat for his 2020 electoral defeat—and impose other voting restrictions, he has proclaimed, Republicans will 'never lose a race—for 50 years,'" one of the lawsuits, led by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, read.

Trump and Republicans have zeroed in on noncitizen voting, which is illegal, and have long argued it is a widespread problem. In addition to his executive order, Trump has been urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act before the 2026 midterms to impose a physical identification requirement on people registering to vote, though the bill lacks the needed support from Democratic senators to advance.

Fox News Digital reached out to the USPS press office for comment on AFL's petition.

Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.

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