USPS readies mail ballot rules despite court blocks

The U.S. Postal Service is preparing new restrictions on mail-in ballots that could take effect quickly if federal court orders blocking them are lifted, setting up a clash over voting procedures months before November’s midterm congressional elections.

The agency posted a 95-page final draft of the rules online Friday and is scheduled to publish the final rule in the Federal Register next week. The Postal Service acknowledged in the document that two federal court injunctions, issued in California and Massachusetts, currently prevent it from carrying out the changes ordered by President Donald Trump in March.

Under the rules, states would have to provide the federal government with information about voters and mail ballots before the Postal Service would deliver ballots for federal elections. States would be required to identify voters who requested mail-in ballots and redesign ballot envelopes to include barcodes that USPS could use to track and identify voting materials. The Guardian reported that the proposal also seeks the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots for federal elections.

If states do not comply, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver the ballots. The Guardian reported that the federal government has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for refusing to provide lists of eligible voters.

The Postal Service said in the rule that it is ready to implement the changes if the injunctions are lifted in time. “If the government obtains timely relief from the injunctions, implementation immediately thereafter will provide election officials as much time as possible before the next election to comply with the rule’s preparation standards for Federal Ballot Mail envelopes,” the rule says. It adds that officials would also need time “to prepare to submit data to the Federal Ballot Mail Portal,” before mail-in and absentee ballots are mailed, which generally happens in September or later depending on state law.

The agency said the portal would become active when the related system of records is published. USPS also said it received more than 200,000 responses during the public comment period on the proposed rule.

In the document, the Postal Service defended the changes as mail operations rules rather than election administration. “These requirements do not amount to election administration, nor do they usurp state resources,” it said. “Rather, they regulate the use of the mail to improve operational efficiency and support the faithful execution of federal law.”

Critics say the plan would give the federal government improper control over state-run elections and could allow ballots to be rejected in states that do not meet the administration’s demands. Al Jazeera reported that leaders of 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged the rules, and voting rights organizations filed a separate lawsuit seeking to stop them.

In June, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked the rules from taking effect, saying states could voluntarily opt in but the federal government could not impose requirements such as barcoding. On Aug. 11, she issued another preliminary injunction in the case brought by voting rights groups, citing the approaching midterm races.

“Where [Trump’s executive order] is presently causing confusion and threatening both increasing chaos and an erosion of trust in our democracy, the court finds that enfranchisement heavily outweighs the executive’s attempt to unconstitutionally insert itself into the domain of election regulation,” Talwani wrote.

Postmaster General David Steiner defended the plan in June, saying it would ensure postal officials “match the ballots that a state believes they’re sending out to what actually gets sent out,” according to Al Jazeera.

Trump has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting and called for restrictions on it, while also voting by mail multiple times, including in this month’s Florida Republican primary, according to the reports. Nearly one in three Americans voted by mail in 2024, The Guardian reported.