Postal Service Publishes Finalized Plan to Restrict Mail Ballots

The Postal Service on Friday published regulations that would restrict mail voting, its latest effort to comply with President Trump’s call to restrict the popular practice just months before the midterm elections.

In a 95-page final rule, the Postal Service clarified how it would carry out an executive order taken by the former president in March, which aimed to limit mail ballots and create statewide citizen registries to assess voting eligibility.

Under the regulation, the Postal Service declared that it would distribute mail ballots exclusively in states that maintain shared voter data with the federal agency.

The Postal Service would review every envelope intended for ballot mailing for adherence to the new standards, confirming that the designated recipient was enrolled with the postal service to receive a ballot prior to acceptance into the processing system.

Should these regulations be enforced, the agency would discontinue delivery of mail ballots to states failing to meet compliance requirements.

The executive order issued by President Trump faced judicial intervention during the current summer; therefore, the Postal Service indicated in its Friday release that it would not implement the rule specifically for the upcoming election without obtaining temporary relief from the courts. The Justice Department submitted motion to the Supreme Court indicating that enforcement would halt until the highest court ruled favorably.

The Supreme Court remains inclined toward consideration and may render a decision at any time.

A representative from the Postal Service declined to provide additional remarks, quoting pending litigation.

Trump has made repeated assertions that mail voting produces fraudulent results, despite having cast his personal vote by correspondence several times, most recently earlier this week.

The president acknowledged that preventing fraud was not the sole driver behind targeting this voting method. In March, he told Republican legislators that enacting stringent voter‑identification statutes that penalize mail ballots—measures currently more prevalent among Democrats—would “secure the midterms” for his side.

Ann E. Marimow contributed reporting.

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