US Postal Service rule tightens mail-in voting despite court orders blocking changes

The US Postal Service prepared to publish a final ⁠rule late ⁠on ​Friday to impose new requirements on states to provide the federal government with information on voters before the November ⁠midterm congressional elections, despite a ​pair of court ‌orders ‌that currently block the ‌changes from taking effect.The USPS acknowledged in the text of the final rule posted online Friday, which is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week, that two injunctions issued by federal courts in California and Massachusetts currently bar it from moving ahead with the changes to comply with a March executive order signed by Donald Trump.In accordance with the order, the postal service would ‌require states to give the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies access to lists of voters and to adopt new balloting procedures before the mail agency would make deliveries. If states did not comply, the USPS would refuse to deliver the ballots.The federal government has sued 30 states and Washington DC for refusing to hand over lists of eligible voters.Despite the injunctions, the Trump administration is pressing ahead with plans to disrupt votes cast by mail.According to the text posted online Friday, the USPS is ready to implement the new restrictions on mail-in voting if the court injunctions are lifted.“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, and to prepare to submit data to the Federal Ballot Mail Portal (‘Portal’), before the mail-in and absentee ballots subject to this rule are mailed (which generally occurs in September or thereafter, as determined by state law),” the rule reads. “The Portal will become active (along with the verification process that relies on Portal data) at the time of the publication of the system of records (‘SOR’) governing the Portal.”Nearly one in three Americans voted by mail in 2024, but Trump, who wants to restrict the number of voters by limiting ballots cast by mail, signed an executive order in March that prohibits the USPS from delivering ballots to any voters not on a federal list of citizens deemed eligible to vote in each state by the Department of Homeland Security.The USPS proposal to implement this order seeks to require states to give the postal service the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots for federal elections. The service said it received more than 200,000 responses to its proposed rule change during a public comment period.Trump himself voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary this year, which was at least the third time the president has mailed in his ballot.