Updated

Updated · APWU · Jun 23

USPS Proposes Mail-Ballot Rule Requiring Voter Lists, Potentially Blocking Millions as July 2 Comment Deadline Nears

Updated

Updated · APWU · Jun 23

USPS Proposes Mail-Ballot Rule Requiring Voter Lists, Potentially Blocking Millions as July 2 Comment Deadline Nears

Q: When states refuse to share voter data, how can the new federal ballot portal function?

If states refuse to share voter data, the federal ballot portal cannot operate as intended for those states; the system is built around state-submitted voter lists. Under the proposed USPS rule and the March 31 executive order, states that use mail voting would be expected to send USPS a state-specific list of voters receiving mail or absentee ballots, along with ballot identifiers such as barcodes. USPS would then use that list to decide which ballots it will transmit. If a state does not provide the list, the rule contemplates that USPS could reject or refuse those ballot mailings rather than verify them through the portal. The administration’s fallback is not a full substitute for state data. DHS and SSA are directed to compile federal “state citizenship lists” from federal records, but those lists do not replace state voter registration files or state absentee-ballot records. They may help identify some records, but they do not tell USPS which registered voter in a state has actually been issued a mail ballot. That is why election officials and legal experts say the portal depends on state cooperation. Without it, the likely result is not a smoothly functioning federal system, but a standoff: states challenge the requirement, courts weigh whether the federal government can impose it, and voters risk delays or blocked ballot delivery in the meantime. Critics say that practical effect—not technical failure alone—is the central danger.

3 articles · Updated · APWU · Jun 23

June 2 marked USPS’s publication of a proposed rule that would let the agency decide which voters receive mail ballots, shifting it from delivery into ballot eligibility screening.
The plan would create a federal Ballot Portal, require states to submit lists of all mail and absentee ballot recipients, and allow USPS to withhold ballots that do not match its records.
The push follows a March 31 White House executive order described by critics as making vote-by-mail harder, with errors such as dropped or misspelled names potentially cutting voters off through no fault of their own.
Rural voters, people with disabilities and others who rely on mail voting could be hit hardest, while the public comment period runs until July 2 at 5 p.m. ET.