Postal Service finalizes mail ballot rule as courts block enforcement

The U.S. Postal Service has finalized new rules for handling mail ballots in federal elections, but said it will not enforce them for this year’s midterms unless courts lift injunctions blocking President Donald Trump’s mail-voting executive order.

The final rule, effective Aug. 21 and scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Aug. 26, amends the Domestic Mail Manual for mail-in and absentee ballots used in federal elections. The Postal Service said the rule is intended to improve visibility of ballot mail, create state-specific participation lists and aid enforcement of federal law.

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Under the rule, election officials or authorized mail vendors would have to use envelopes with the official Election Mail logo. States also would have to submit voter names, addresses and barcode information through a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal before outbound federal ballot mailings are accepted.

Postal employees would verify outbound federal ballot mailings before accepting them, using information submitted to the portal. Ballot mailings that do not comply would be returned to the authorized ballot mailer for correction. The rule does not apply the same verification process to ballots voters return to election offices.

Executive order blocked by courts

The rule grew out of Trump’s March 31 executive order, which directed federal agencies to take steps the administration said would strengthen election integrity. The order called for state-by-state citizenship lists and directed the Postal Service to develop rules governing mail ballots in federal elections.

The policy has been blocked in litigation brought by 23 states and the District of Columbia. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts ruled June 25 that core provisions of the order exceeded presidential authority and violated the separation of powers. She barred federal agencies, including the Postal Service, from implementing those provisions for the Nov. 3 election and any earlier federal elections in the plaintiff states.

Talwani later issued a separate injunction in a case brought by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other voting-rights groups, blocking the Postal Service from implementing the mail-ballot portion of the order for this year’s elections. The Postal Service acknowledged those injunctions in the final rule and said it will not take action to implement the rule for the 2026 election unless the government obtains relief.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the order to take effect while the litigation continues. The administration argues the lower court orders prevent agencies from carrying out policy work and could run out the clock before the midterms. The states challenging the order say the Constitution gives states and Congress authority over federal election administration.

The agency said it will not inspect ballot contents, determine voter eligibility, maintain voter rolls or count ballots. It said information in the portal would come from election officials and would be used to create state-specific mail-in and absentee participation lists that could help election officials and law enforcement identify potential anomalies.

The final rule excludes primary elections and ballots covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. It also says states remain responsible for voter eligibility and election administration.

In a statement, Michael McNulty, senior policy director for Issue One, a bipartisan political reform organization, acknowledged the rule is currently blocked, but called it “an attempt to weaponize USPS as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to take over elections.”

“If it holds up in court, it would mean postal workers shift from neutral transporters of a state-led process to a federal gatekeeper of states’ outbound mail ballots — requiring states to provide USPS with voter-level ballot information and giving USPS authority to reject ballots that do not meet the new federal requirements,” McNulty said.

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