New Mail Voting Rules Moved Forward Despite USPS Officials’ Concerns About Mass Disenfranchisement

Top U.S. Postal Service officials responsible for creating regulations on mail voting expressed concerns during internal meetings about how the rules they were drafting could potentially delay or prevent ballots from reaching large groups of eligible voters in upcoming midterms. The rulemaking process, however, moved forward despite these worries, according to ProPublica.

A whistleblower who filed a disclosure with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal warned that the new system is untested, prone to errors, and could infringe on voters' rights. The whistleblower described the entire process as "secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed." The directive to reject entire batches of ballots if one ballot within the batch couldn't be verified was included in the rule despite concerns from election clerks and officials.

Maricopa County, Arizona, which often sends out over 2 million ballots at once, is an example of a county that could potentially face delays if their system were to encounter issues. While the Postal Service has defended its finalized rule, stating it does not intend to control the administration of elections, the system's complexity and reliance on bulk mailing have raised doubts among election officials and printing experts.

Blumenthal accused the administration of attempting to alter the process for political reasons, while the White House stated the USPS is working to ensure secure and reliable elections.