The US Postal Service prepared to publish Postal Service Mail Ballot Regulations late Friday, even as two federal injunctions in California and Massachusetts still block the changes. The rule would require states to provide voter information before mail ballots are delivered, and the service says it is ready to move if the courts lift those orders.
The text posted online Friday says, "If the government obtains timely relief from the injunctions, implementation immediately thereafter will provide election officials as much time as possible before the next election to comply with the rule’s preparation standards for Federal Ballot Mail envelopes, and to prepare to submit data to the Federal Ballot Mail Portal (‘Portal’), before the mail-in and absentee ballots subject to this rule are mailed (which generally occurs in September or thereafter, as determined by state law)," The same document adds, "The Portal will become active (along with the verification process that relies on Portal data) at the time of the publication of the system of records (‘SOR’) governing the Portal."
March executive order
The Postal Service said the change is meant to carry out a March executive order signed by Donald Trump. It also said it received more than 200,000 responses during the public comment period. The rule would require states to give the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies access to lists of voters, and the Postal Service proposal seeks the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots for federal elections.
The federal government has sued 30 states and Washington DC over refusals to hand over lists of eligible voters. In 2024, nearly one in three Americans voted by mail, and Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary this year, which was at least the third time he mailed in his ballot.
California and Massachusetts
The immediate barrier is the pair of injunctions in California and Massachusetts. Those orders stop the rule from taking effect now, but the Postal Service said it is prepared to implement the restrictions if the court limits are lifted. If that happens in time, states would have to line up their voter-data submissions before ballots are mailed, a process that generally starts in September or later under state law.
For voters and election officials, the practical issue is whether mail ballots for federal elections will still move under the current system or under a new data-sharing requirement before the November midterm congressional elections. The Postal Service has already signaled which path it wants to take; the courts will decide whether it can use it.
