{"id":7519,"date":"2026-08-22T23:08:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7519"},"modified":"2026-08-22T23:08:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:08:03","slug":"trump-aligned-mail-ballot-rules-readied-for-high-court-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7519","title":{"rendered":"Trump-aligned mail ballot rules readied for high court decision"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Mar\u00eda Paula Mijares Torres | Bloomberg News<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s priorities even as court orders keep the push on hold.<\/p>\n

Read more What to know about Trump\u2019s 50% tariffs on Canadian goods that just went into effect<\/a><\/p>\n

The new rules deviate slightly from Trump\u2019s 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\u2019t be in place for the midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Trump order tasks the Department of Homeland Security with sending \u201ccitizenship lists\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Under the Postal Service\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

State election officials also have to submit the voter\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

If an outbound mail-in ballot doesn\u2019t comply with the standards or the information hasn\u2019t been submitted to the portal, USPS can return it to the election official to resubmit.<\/p>\n

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Trump\u2019s executive order also said the Postal Service should reject voters\u2019 return ballots if they didn\u2019t complete the entire verification process, but the USPS rule doesn\u2019t include that.<\/p>\n

Read more Photos: Santa Clara County Fair in full swing this weekend<\/a><\/p>\n

The USPS will give each state\u2019s election officials \u201con or about\u201d Election Day a list of people entered in the portal and their associated barcodes. The USPS said it isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order also directed the Justice Department to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who send ballots to ineligible voters.<\/p>\n

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The USPS proposal received more than 200,000 public comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one commenter explained, election integrity and voter access are complementary goals,\u201d Colleen Hibbert-Kapler, a USPS ethics and legal compliance attorney, wrote in the rule. \u201cAny regulatory changes should strengthen public confidence while avoiding unnecessary obstacles to the timely and reliable delivery of election mail.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cearly to mid-August.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finalization of the regulations also could undercut the administration\u2019s 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 \u201cmuch remains uncertain as to what a final USPS rule might include.\u201d<\/p>\n

With assistance from Greg Stohr.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more US citizen in charge of security for cigarette company in Haiti found stabbed to death<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Postal Service finalized a rule that would add hurdles to mail-in voting, pressing ahead with one of President Donald Trump\u2019s priorities despite court orders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump-aligned mail ballot rules readied for high court decision - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7519\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump-aligned mail ballot rules readied for high court decision - 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