A group of Democratic governors asked the U.S. Postal Service to pull its proposed rule aligning with President Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots.
“Far from ensuring integrity in federal elections,” the governors wrote in their letter, reported by the Associated Press, “the Proposed Rule would undermine trust in elections, needlessly complicate voting processes, arbitrarily disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, and undermine states’ constitutional role in ensuring free and fair elections.”
The governors of Illinois, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin argued that the proposed rules would permit “unilateral power to refuse to deliver their ballots if a state refuses to collaborate with President Trump’s unlawful directives.”
The proposal sought to “apply uniform standards for the mailing of absentee ballots to and from voters, which the Postal Service understands will facilitate the faithful execution of federal law.”
Under the rule, states would “notify the Postal Service of the individuals to whom they are mailing a mail-in or absentee ballot, along with the unique barcode applied to the outbound and return ballot mail envelope for such individuals such that the name and barcode of the voter will be included on a Mail-In and Absentee Participation List.” States may “add to or modify the list of enrollees until the last day that ballots may be mailed out to individuals under state law.”
A judge has since ruled that USPS cannot implement its proposal, arguing that it conflicts with a previous settlement requiring that the agency deliver election mail in a timely manner.
