Possible 'Sea Change' Looms in How USPS Handles Mail Votes

The Postal Service is weighing a change that could upend how millions of Americans cast their ballots. A newly proposed rule would let the USPS refuse to handle mail-in ballots from states that don't provide detailed lists of mail voters to the federal government—lists that postal workers would then use to check ballot eligibility before mail enters the system, per the New York Times. The rule, posted June 2 and now in a 30-day comment period, wouldn't apply to primaries or to military and overseas voters, but it would impose new design and tracking requirements on ballot envelopes and allow ballots to be rejected if they don't match the federal list.

Democratic state officials and voting rights groups are calling it an unconstitutional federal reach into state-run elections and a threat to the Postal Service's independence. "If proper postage is paid on a mail piece, the USPS should deliver it," Anton Hajjar, a former member of the USPS Board of Governors, tells CNN. "The proposed rule says it's not regulating elections, but that's what, in effect, it's doing," In a Boston court hearing earlier this month, critics warned of chaos and high costs with fewer than 150 days until the 2026 midterms.

"This is going to be a sea change in the way that some states administer their ballots," one attorney representing California noted, calling it "difficult to overstate the disruption that this will cause," per the AP. The ACLU, meanwhile, calls the proposed change "a dangerous attempt to disenfranchise eligible voters nationwide," noting that it would turn the USPS "from a neutral mail carrier to an arbiter of who may cast a ballot by mail."

The American Postal Workers Union also says it's "deeply alarmed" by the proposal, which flows from a Trump executive order issued in March that directed the USPS to withhold election mail unless states comply with new federal demands, including handing over voter rolls. Justice Department lawyers say many implementation details remain unsettled, arguing that court challenges are premature. A final rule is expected by the end of July.