The U.S. Postal Service proposed new rules on Friday that would require states to hand over voter-level data tied to mail-in and absentee ballots in federal elections. The proposal came one day after a federal judge declined to immediately block President Donald Trump's executive order tightening mail-in voting rules.
According to CNBC, the new rule would require states to submit to the Postal Service the names and addresses of voters receiving mail-in or absentee ballots, along with unique barcodes tied to each voter's outbound and return ballot envelopes. USPS said the system would help officials compare how many ballots were mailed against how many were returned, allowing for further investigation of potential issues.
The rule would apply to general, special, and runoff federal elections. It would not apply to primaries or to ballots sent to military and overseas voters. States would still control who is eligible to vote by mail.
The proposal would shift the Postal Service from recommending ballot-mail practices to requiring them for federal elections. USPS would use the collected data to create state-specific lists called "Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists" through a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal. Outbound federal ballot mailings that do not meet the new standards or are not tied to state-submitted voter lists could be returned under the proposal.
The rule follows Trump's March 31 executive order on elections, which directed USPS to begin a rulemaking process on mail-in and absentee ballot services. The federal judge's Thursday ruling found that a challenge to the order was premature because agencies had not yet carried it out, though the ruling leaves open the possibility of future legal challenges once implementation moves forward.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNBC that "the entire Trump Administration will continue lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact — which includes the safety and security of American elections."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, pushed back sharply. "Mail-in voting is safe and secure — period. This new rule is just another malicious attempt by the Trump administration to suppress the votes of millions and try to throw the election results," Schumer said in a statement.
Democrats and voting rights groups have argued that Trump's order intrudes on states' constitutional authority over elections. The administration has defended such steps as election-integrity measures. USPS did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
