The United States Postal Service (USPS) has released a final draft of its proposed rules to restrict the use of mail-in ballots during Donald Trump’s presidency. So far, the rules have been blocked by the US judicial system. But the USPS shared the 95-page update on Friday so the rules can take effect immediately if the existing court order is overturned. List of 3-item recommended stories end of list Under the proposed rules, the Postal Service will not distribute mail-in ballots in states that do not comply with federal voter registration demands. States would be required to identify to the USPS any voters who have requested mail-in ballots. They would also have to redesign ballot envelopes to include barcodes that the Postal Service could use to track and identify election materials. In the 95-page document, the USPS argued that such changes were necessary to ensure compliance with federal law. “These requirements are not equivalent to electoral administration, nor do they usurp state resources,” the document said. “Rather, they regulate the use of the mail to improve operational efficiency and support the faithful execution of federal law.” But critics have accused the Trump administration of attempting to exercise federal oversight over election administration, a task that falls to states under the U.S. Constitution. They warn that the Postal Service could use the proposed rules to collect voter information and reject ballots in states that do not comply with Trump’s demands. Since returning to office for a second term in 2025, Trump has sought to impose additional voting restrictions based on false allegations of widespread voter fraud. For example, he has continued to maintain that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, a race he lost. Trump has also used accusations of “rigged” voting to sow doubt about other elections in which the result did not go in his favor. Earlier this year, for example, he accused the state of California of “cheating” in its primary elections, after several Republican candidates failed to live up to his expectations. Trump’s efforts to exert greater control over the electoral process. Although he has criticized the voting method as ripe for fraud (a baseless accusation), Trump himself has voted by mail on multiple occasions, including in this month’s Florida primary. Repeated studies have shown that voter fraud is extremely rare in the United States. All states have laws prohibiting noncitizen voting and fraudulent casting of ballots. However, in March, Trump issued an executive order directing the Postal Service to implement new rules on voting by mail. Friday’s 95-page document is a response to that lawsuit. Control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will be on the ballot in November, and Democrats hope to take back one or both chambers of Congress. Leaders from 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, quickly challenged the Trump administration’s plans to impose the new rules on voting by mail. A group of voting rights organizations filed a separate lawsuit with the same goal. went into effect, saying states could voluntarily opt into the rules, but that the federal government could not impose policies like bar codes. Talwani ruled a second time on August 11, this time addressing the case brought by voting rights groups. He once again issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the rules from taking effect, noting that the midterm elections were less than 90 days away. [Trump’s executive order] Currently causing confusion and threatening increasing chaos and an erosion of trust in our democracy, the court finds that the grant of rights far outweighs the executive’s attempt to unconstitutionally insert itself into the domain of election regulation,” Talwani wrote. Still, Postmaster General David Steiner defended the Trump administration’s plan, arguing in June that the rules would ensure that postal officials “match the ballots a state believes they are sending with those that are actually being sent.” The rules were put online Friday night, critics criticized the effort to push the restrictions “Tonight, USPS relented. [in] to Trump,” voting rights advocate and Trump critic Marc Elias wrote in a social media post on Saturday. Democratic lawmakers have also argued that the Postal Service is trying to reconfigure election rules with the midterm elections just months away.
