How freaked out should you be about Trump’s plot to disrupt mail voting?

The whistleblower's report raises concerns about the USPS's planned mail voting system for the 2026 midterms. According to the whistleblower, the USPS was rushing to implement a ballot-vetting system that was inadequate and likely to reject many legitimate ballots. The system, which was designed under a Trump executive order, was said to be in violation of an existing court order.

While Democrats were shocked by the allegations, experts on election law and administration were not convinced that the Trump administration was trying to sabotage the elections or defy court orders. Instead, they noted that the system's design and implementation would likely be problematic, with potential errors and technical failures that could result in many voters being denied their ballots.

The system's design, which required envelopes to be printed in a specific way and barcodes to be generated, was deemed overly complicated and burdensome. Moreover, the federal database for matching barcodes to voters was untested and described as a "shit show" by experienced election officials. The whistleblower's claims that the system was being developed in violation of a court order were also disputed by experts, who suggested that the USPS was simply moving forward with its development despite the injunction.

Ultimately, while the whistleblower's report raises serious concerns about the USPS's proposed mail voting system, it is unclear whether Trump or the USPS would go so far as to defy a court order to implement the system.