Trump-aligned mail ballot rules readied for high court decision

The U.S. Postal Service finalized a rule adding hurdles to mail-in voting, advancing President Donald Trump's election integrity push despite court orders keeping it on hold. The rule requires states to submit voter data to a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal at least 30 days before elections and mandates special barcoded envelopes, but omits Trump's original 60-day deadline and ballot rejection provision. The Supreme Court is weighing a lawsuit from California-led states, and the administration says implementation must start by early to mid-August for the November midterms.

Getting your Trinity Audio //trinityaudio.ai player ready... By María Paula Mijares Torres | Bloomberg News The U.S. Postal Service finalized a rule that would add extra hurdles to mail-in voting, pressing ahead with one of President Donald Trump’s priorities even as court orders keep the push on hold. The new rules deviate slightly from Trump’s original plan. The Supreme Court is still weighing a lawsuit challenging the order from a California-led group of states, so without a favorable decision, the new Postal Service rules won’t be in place for the midterm elections in November. While Trump says his executive order issued March 31 would combat voter fraud, opponents say it would create chaos and disenfranchise large numbers of legitimate voters. The Trump order tasks the Department of Homeland Security with sending “citizenship lists” to the states, which must then send rosters of eligible voters to the Postal Service in order to have ballots sent out by mail. The Postal Service would then create yet another list of voters and would deliver ballots only for those people, requiring states to use special bar-coded envelopes. Under the Postal Service’s plan, both ballots sent to voters and the envelopes voters return must carry the Official Election Mail logo, be compatible with automated processing and have a unique Intelligent Mail barcode tied to the voter. USPS must also review the envelope design requirements. State election officials also have to submit the voter’s name, address, outbound barcode, return barcode and state to a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal at least 30 days before the election when practical, but changes can be made later. The Trump executive order had originally set a deadline of 60 days before an election. If an outbound mail-in ballot doesn’t comply with the standards or the information hasn’t been submitted to the portal, USPS can return it to the election official to resubmit. Trump’s executive order also said the Postal Service should reject voters’ return ballots if they didn’t complete the entire verification process, but the USPS rule doesn’t include that. The USPS will give each state’s election officials “on or about” Election Day a list of people entered in the portal and their associated barcodes. The USPS said it isn’t verifying or deciding who is eligible to vote, checking citizenship, inspecting ballots or counting votes. Its verification is essentially a mail-compliance check, according to the Postal Service. The measures will apply to federal general, special and runoff elections, but not to primaries or military and overseas ballots covered by the Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Trump’s executive order also directed the Justice Department to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who send ballots to ineligible voters. The USPS proposal received more than 200,000 public comments. “As one commenter explained, election integrity and voter access are complementary goals,” Colleen Hibbert-Kapler, a USPS ethics and legal compliance attorney, wrote in the rule. “Any regulatory changes should strengthen public confidence while avoiding unnecessary obstacles to the timely and reliable delivery of election mail.” The administration is quickly running out of time to deploy mail-ballot restrictions for the November election. In seeking Supreme Court intervention last month, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the Postal Service needed to start implementing its rules by “early to mid-August.” The finalization of the regulations also could undercut the administration’s case at the Supreme Court. Sauer told the Supreme Court in the July 27 filing that a lawsuit by states challenging the plan was premature because “much remains uncertain as to what a final USPS rule might include.” With assistance from Greg Stohr. ©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.