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Mail-in ballot rules spark confusion

States say changes comes too close midterms

By: Sarah D. Wire
USA Today

..... Midterm ballots are already being mailed to voters even as the courts continue to consider whether the U.S. Postal Service can be involved in deciding who gets a mail-in ballot.
..... Twenty states will soon send mail-in ballots to voters or already have, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The federal deadline to send ballots to military and overseas voters is at least 45 days before the election.
..... For months, election officials at the state and local level have directed voters worried about their ballots being return and to place ballot in drop boxes, if available, or take them directly to a local election office.
..... Two dozen states have challenged a new USPS rule, finalized weeks before the election, as unconstitutional. U.S. district Judge Indira Talwani placed the rule on hold, saying it would be impossible to carry out in the for this year's [2026] elections.
..... On September 10, [2026] the 1st Circuit rejected President Donald Trump's request to let the changes take effect. The administration took unusual step of appealing to the Supreme Court before the appeals court weighted in. That decision could come any day.
..... The rule, which the USPS announced in May [2026] and finalized August 26 [2026] in response to an executive order Trump signed in March, [2026] requires state and local election officials to submit voters' names and addresses to the USPS through a portal that is not yet available.
..... The USPS can refuse to deliver ballots that don't meet the new rules or bear the name of voter who is not on the list. The rule also establishes new design requirements, including a tracking bar code four mail-in ballot envelopes, that states must cerate and submit to the USPS for approval.
..... The Supreme Court is weighing whether the rule can be implemented for this election or be put on holed while the legal challenges continue. It will not address the constitutionality of the rule or Trump's executive order.
..... The USPS did not answer questions about whether ballots received by mail can be returned by mail to election officials before the Supreme Court decides whether the stay remains in place.
..... Activists and election officials are concerned that the rapidly changing and legally uncertain fight so close to the elections will lead to fewer mail-in ballots being submitted. Control of mail-in ballots could determine the outcome of the midterms.
..... Nealy 30% of voters cast a mail ballot in the 2024 election, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, according to the MIT Election Data & Science Lab.
..... elections across the country differ because the Constitution leave election administration to the states. That means the USPS voting rule would require changes to ballots and envelops - most of which are either already print3ed or i the process of being printed - for 10,000 different state and local elections in order for people to vote by mail.
..... Mail-in voting began in North Carolina on September 4. [2026] It begins in Wisconsin on September 17 [2026] and Virginia on September 18. [2026] Other states follow soon after.
..... A bipartisan group of election officials - including Republican secretaries of state - toled the Supreme Court the rule is simply to disruptive to implement now, GOP officials in Kentucky, North Dakota and South Dakota, Georgia and Kansas, plus lieutenant governor and roughly tow dozen more local election officials, signed onto a friend of the court brief which took no position on the rule's constitutionally but stated that "late changes breed confusion, that confusion keeps legitimate voters form voting, and that a chaotic election erodes confidence in the results."
..... Regardless of the Supreme Court's decision on the stay, legal challenges to the requirement will continue in a federal district court in Boston.

If stay is rejected

..... If the Supreme Court rejects the stay, the rule will likely be implemented for the 2026 midterm election as challenges to the constitutionally of the rule continue.
..... White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis has told USA Today the USPS rule "was proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election."
..... How much of the preparatory work has been completed is unclear, but the USPS has provided sum detail on its website.
..... Ballot envelopes will have to comply with three new standards. Envelope designs must be reviewed and approved by the USPS. Each ballot envelope must induce an official Election Mail logo, be able to be scanned by USPS machines, and bear a unique USPS bar code connected to each voter.
..... States must cerate lists of voters who are approved to receive mail ballots and upload the lists to a new USPS portal. The USPS will deliver ballots only to the voters on these lists, which must include names, address and bar code.
..... A whistle-blower has warned that the technology developed by the USPS to carry out the order could "derail the midterm elections,: say8ing it hasn't been properly tested and risks "catastrophic failure" if implemented.
..... A USPS spokesperson has said the agency is "carefully reviewing" the issues raised by the whistle-blower. the agency had spent months developing a "simple, secure, and efficient" mail ballot system, and the work was "conducted in a manner consistent with court orders," the spokesperson said.
..... Lastly, when states take their mail ballots to a USPS facility, the envelopes will be checked to see if they comply with the new regulations. Many jurisdictions send out tens of thousands, or even millions of ballots.

If stay remains in place

..... If the Supreme Court allows the lower court's say to remain in place while it hears arguments about whether the rule is constitutional, the USPS will not be allowed to implement the rule for 2026.
..... election plans, which were made months or even years before early voting begins, will be allowed to continue as scheduled. Envelopes purchased months ago, some of which had stamps affixed weeks ago, will be filled with ballots and mailed out in accordance with state law

..... Contributing: Maureen Groppe, USA Today; Jeff Burlew Tallahassee Democrat

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