USPS Defied Court to Build System That Could Reject Mail Ballots
NEWS & RESEARCH
Following an executive order from President Trump, the US Postal Service (USPS) issued a rule in August 2026 that would make voting by mail much more difficult, if not impossible, for tens of millions of Americans. the Supreme Court has blocked the rule, but a whistleblower report alleges that USPS defied a lower court order and kept pushing the plan forward in a "secretive, rushed" manner. The rule directed USPS to create an online portal where states would upload the name and address of every voter to whom they plan to mail a ballot, effectively creating a federal registry of absentee voters. The executive order also directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compile lists of US citizens in each state and instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute election officials who send ballots to ineligible voters, pressuring states to bring their lists in line with DHS's. States would also have to mail ballots in USPS-approved envelopes bearing unique barcodes. Postal workers would then scan a sample of each batch, and if even a single barcode in a batch of 10,000 or more failed to scan or did not match the portal, the entire batch would be rejected and the state would have to resubmit it. This "zero-percent failure policy" would apply even if the problem was a technical glitch or a mismatch in an eligible voter's information, such as after a recent name change due to marriage. "Even under ordinary circumstances, a zero percent failure rate when spot checking in a batch of thousands or tens of thousands of mailings would be problematic," the anonymous whistleblower wrote, adding that "such technical issues are predictable — and likely." They warned that the system could lead to a "catastrophic failure which could derail the midterm elections," as "potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle." In response to the report, USPS said it was finalizing the portal but insisted that it would be offered only to election officials who "voluntarily" wished to use it. However, a federal judge has since barred even voluntary participation, and the Supreme Court has kept the rule blocked for the November midterms. The move is the latest in a series of attempts by Trump to exert greater control over the nation's elections, ostensibly to prevent noncitizens from voting, even though studies have shown such cases are extremely rare. He has even called mail-in voting "corrupt," "cheating" and "horrible," despite having voted by mail himself on various occasions.
SOURCES: New York Times | NBC News | NPR
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who released the whistleblower report, describes a "risky and haphazard" rollout of Trump's order and says, "One-third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the USPS puts all of their votes at risk." At its core, the rule changes what USPS is. The Postal Service exists to deliver the mail, not to decide who gets it, and Congress never gave it that power. And while the rule itself is problematic and could prevent tens of millions of Americans from receiving their ballots, the rushed nature of the whole process only makes things worse. According to the whistleblower, USPS didn't begin building the portal "in earnest" until June, even though a project of this scale "could take nine months to a year or more," and the system was set to launch after "less than a week of testing." USPS officials themselves described the process as "a shit show," and the whistleblower writes that leadership had "discarded all best practices as they speed the project to be ready for a September 1 implementation—raising questions about whether catastrophic failure would be a feature rather than a bug." Libby Liu, CEO of Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit representing the whistleblower, said, "This dangerously defective mail-in ballot process could disenfranchise millions of voters, ensnaring ballots in red tape under the guise of solving a non-existent problem." Indeed, Judge Indira Talwani found no evidence of fraudulent mail voting to justify the rush. What's more, if the portal wrongly flags a ballot, there is no clear process by which state election officials or voters can challenge the rejection. Also concerning is the fact that, if the portal is implemented, the federal government could prosecute election officials for sending ballots to people who aren't on the DHS list, but that list could also be deeply inaccurate. And the rule may be illegal. Under the Constitution, elections are meant to be overseen by the states and Congress, and so far, the courts agree: two federal judges and an appeals court have ruled against the plan, finding that the president has no power to set election rules or that USPS's authority over the mail does not extend to deciding who can vote by mail. Yet, although the rule is blocked for the midterms, it remains on the books, and while the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the president, Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled that it could survive with more lead time, leaving the door open for 2028.
SOURCES: New York Times | NBC News | NPR
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Pass the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act, which would declare that Trump's executive order has "no force or effect" and bar USPS and all other federal agencies from spending money to carry out that order "or any similar order." The bill goes further by also cutting off funding for federal citizenship lists and voter databases. A similar House bill, the Vote by Mail Protection Act, is endorsed by three postal worker groups, including the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Pass the Election Mail Act, which would bar USPS from carrying out "any operational change that would restrict the prompt and reliable delivery of election mail" during the 120 days before a federal election. It would also require election mail to be delivered on the same timeline as First-Class Mail and let voters mail back completed ballots "free of postage." Because the bill was introduced before Trump's order, it could be amended so the 120-day freeze explicitly covers the new rules.
Amend federal postal law so the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which sets the basic rules for how federal agencies make regulations, applies to any USPS rule affecting election mail. Right now, 39 U.S.C. 410(a) exempts USPS from the law's core requirements: publishing proposed rules, weighing public comments, justifying decisions and giving the public time before a rule takes effect. The exemption also shields USPS from the court review that lets judges strike down rules that are "arbitrary and capricious," meaning unreasonable or poorly justified.
Require a recorded vote of USPS's Board of Governors on any rule affecting election mail and bar USPS from issuing a rule to carry out a presidential order unless a federal law specifically authorizes it. USPS is supposed to be independent of the White House, yet it wrote this rule because Trump's executive order "directed" it to.
Protect election officials in case the rule ever takes effect. The portal would give the Justice Department a record of every ballot recipient to compare against DHS's lists, and the executive order tells the DOJ to prosecute officials who send ballots to ineligible voters, even unknowingly. Congress should add a safe harbor to federal election law, meaning officials who mail ballots to voters registered under their state's law couldn't be prosecuted unless they knowingly helped an ineligible person vote, and a federal list flag alone wouldn't count as proof they knew.
Require independent testing and certification before any federal system can block or delay ballots. Under the Help America Vote Act, the Election Assistance Commission already certifies voting equipment through accredited testing labs, and most states require certified machines. Yet USPS's portal, which could reject 10,000 ballots at once, was set to launch after less than a week of testing. Congress should require the same kind of lab testing and certification for any federal system that handles ballots or voter data, and make the test results public.
Extend the Whistleblower Protection Act to postal employees. Although this wouldn't stop the rule itself, it matters because the public only learned about USPS's rushed portal because one official came forward. However, that worker isn't covered by the federal law that protects most government whistleblowers. USPS states plainly that "the Whistleblower Protection Act… do[es] not apply to the Postal Service." Instead, the agency has voluntarily adopted "many of its provisions" through its internal employee manual, but agency leadership can change this at any time. Congress should put postal whistleblowers under the same law as the rest of the federal civilian workforce.
State action:
Expand drop boxes, in-person ballot return and early voting so voters have ways to cast a ballot that don't depend on USPS. In September, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read asked for nearly $500,000 to add 20 drop boxes and support the state's existing ones, citing uncertainty over mail delivery.
Pass state laws barring election officials from uploading voter data to any federal ballot portal or sharing voter rolls with federal agencies unless federal law specifically requires it. This would keep a future version of the rule from building its registry one "voluntary" state at a time.
Litigation:
Push for final rulings in California v. U.S. Postal Service, brought by two dozen states and the District of Columbia, and League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, both before Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. On Sept. 4, she issued preliminary injunctions, temporary orders that block a rule while a case is decided, finding it "likely" illegal. The injunctions only last through the Nov. 3 election. The Supreme Court refused to lift them, but the cases still have to be argued in full before the court can strike the rule down for good.
Win a final ruling in the Washington, D.C., case brought by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the NAACP. On Sept. 13, Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, issued a preliminary injunction, finding that USPS likely had no legal authority to issue the rule at all. His order also covers only the 2026 election. A final ruling on those grounds, if upheld on appeal, would mean no future administration could revive the rule without new authority from Congress.
Seek contempt sanctions. In August, Judge Talwani found that the government had violated her injunction but held off on punishing it. The whistleblower's account of work continuing even after her next order is new evidence, and plaintiffs could use it to push for sanctions and require regular reports showing USPS is complying.
Legislation: S.4369 - Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act | H.R.8666 - Vote by Mail Protection Act of 2026 | S.2576 - Election Mail Act
