{
  "id": 7443364,
  "title": "Blanche defends mail ballot changes, says election practices are being probed",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/blanche-defends-mail-ballot-changes-says-election-practices-are-being",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-15T01:25:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CBS News",
    "slug": "cbs-news",
    "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blanche-defends-mail-ballot-changes-election-practices-probed/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Attorney General Todd Blanche staunchly defended President Trump's administration's plan to tighten mail-in voting rules ahead of the midterm elections, claiming the Justice Department is probing election practices across various states. When questioned about evidence supporting the claim that these new rules would curb fraud, Blanche initially asserted there was \"a lot of evidence,\" arguing that mail-in voting inherently carries a higher risk of fraud compared to in-person voting with identification. He elaborated that the evidence was \"common sense.\"\n\nThe attorney general further explained that the review would encompass multiple states, not solely the Justice Department. The administration is currently embroiled in several legal battles over its election policies. A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the Postal Service from enforcing new rules for mail ballots earlier this month, and another judge halted the policy on Sunday. The Supreme Court declined to lift the Massachusetts injunction on Monday, leaving the restrictions in place for the upcoming midterm elections.\n\nBlanche introduced the new rule on August 21, which mandates states to share lists of mail ballot recipients with the Postal Service and issue USPS-approved ballot envelopes with unique barcodes. The envelopes must be rejected by USPS if they do not adhere to these criteria. While documented instances of election fraud, including mail-ballot fraud, do occur, they are rare. A 2024 Stanford study of around 4.5 million voters in Washington state identified 14 potentially suspicious mail-ballot casts, representing about 0.0003% of all votes cast, and concluded that some cases might involve errors. A broader 2025 analysis of the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections revealed roughly four identified cases of mail-ballot fraud per 10 million mail ballots cast, resulting in an average fraud rate of 0.000043%.\n\nIn addition to defending the mail voting rules, Blanche revealed that the Justice Department has instructed 29 states and the District of Columbia to retain 2024 election records and is suing for voter-registration data containing sensitive identifiers. He acknowledged that this data could potentially be shared with the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship checks. When asked if the information would be stored in a database, Blanche admitted he was \"not aware of a database,\" but confirmed that the collected data would need to be stored and utilized by federal agencies. He emphasized that the information would not be discarded after collection, stating, \"We would use it to help us understand whether there's people here voting who shouldn't be voting.\"",
  "summary": "Attorney General Todd Blanche fiercely defended the Trump administration's push to impose tighter mail voting rules, telling CBS News the DOJ is examining election practices in multiple states.",
  "key_points": [
    "Attorney General Blanche defends mail ballot rule changes ahead of midterm elections.",
    "Justice Department probing election practices across multiple states.",
    "Data on 2024 election records and voter registration to be shared with DHS."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}