David Steiner defended a USPS proposal on Postmaster General mail-in ballots at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on June 24, saying USPS would not deliver ballots in states that refuse to provide the required data. The proposal would require states to share mail voting lists and barcode information tied to federal election ballots.
Steiner said the rule would require states to provide the USPS the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots, including unique barcodes applied to the outbound and return ballot envelopes. If states do not comply, he said USPS would not deliver ballots there.
Gary Peters and 47 Democratic senators
Senator Gary Peters said the proposed rule would coerce states to hand over their absentee voter rolls or face consequences. All 47 Democratic senators wrote to the Postal Service on Wednesday urging it to drop the plan.
Those senators called it an unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform USPS into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump. Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin told Steiner, “You are being used (by President Trump)” and said, “He does not believe elections that he loses are valid elections.”
Trump's March executive order
The proposal stems from Trump's March executive order aimed at severely restricting mail-in voting. That order directs the Homeland Security Department to compile and transmit to states a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state.
A U.S. judge said last week that Democratic-led states and voting rights groups could proceed with lawsuits challenging the mail-in voting order. The rule Steiner defended would sit at the center of those disputes because it links ballot delivery to state cooperation on voter and barcode data.
For states, the practical issue is straightforward: provide the mailing lists and barcode data, or risk USPS refusing to deliver ballots for federal elections. If USPS finalizes the proposal, the first states affected would be the ones that decline to hand over the required information.
