The United States Postal Service (USPS) will require states to submit some voter data in order to use the mail service to send mail-in ballots for federal elections, according to a new rule released Friday. The mail delivery organization noted that enforcement of compliance would require “timely relief” from two injunctions blocking a similar executive order signed in March.
An end-of-day per curiam opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the injunctions Monday as the government goes through the appeals process, though the order is not the final say on the matter.
“The Government has asked us to stay the injunction, arguing that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its jurisdictional argument, that the injunction is causing irreparable harm, and that the equities do not favor leaving the injunction in place while the Government’s appeal is pending,” the high court stated. “We agree and grant the stay.”
“Because reversal of the District Court’s judgment would come too late for the 2026 midterms, the District Court’s errors deal ‘a serious setback’ to the Executive’s ‘goals’ while this litigation unfolds,” the court added. “When a federal court ‘improperly intrudes on a coordinate branch’ in this way, interim relief is justified.”
The USPS rule requires states to submit some voter data to the federal government through a portal, along with changing return-mail envelopes to include a barcode, in order for those ballots to be carried by the mail service. The rule does some work to mitigate ineligible voters from casting ballots, but does not implement the full measure of requirements offered in legislation like the SAVE America Act.
According to USPS, the state must provide the name of the voter, the address of that individual, a unique intelligent mail barcode (IMb) for that individual on outbound and return envelopes, and the originating election office state.
The rule stated it does not seek to alter state law or voter eligibility requirements created by each state, but rather relates “only to the use of the U.S. Mail,” and notes the onus on each state to comply and maintain its own voter rolls.
The Postal Service rule also acknowledged two injunctions in federal courts in California and Massachusetts regarding the underlying executive order, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” These injunctions, now blocked by SCOTUS, stopped implementation until lifted. The rule suggested there was a need for urgency to lift the injunctions so that states can comply with the rule for the upcoming midterm elections in November.
“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 rule states. “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.”
Solicitor General Tom Sauer filed a brief Monday notifying the justices of the new rule prior to their per curiam decision.
The full scope of what the rule would do remains unclear, because Sauer also noted that the rule “contrary to the district court’s assumption … does not simply mirror the proposals outlined in Section 3 of Executive Order 14,399. For example, the Postal Service will not refuse to transmit ballots from individuals who were not included on a state-submitted list.”
The rule itself states that if a “state complies with the rule’s relatively modest mail preparation and data entry standards, voters should not experience any difference from the status quo.” But it also states: “While it is true that outbound mail-in ballots may be rejected from the mailstream as a consequence of noncompliance with the rule’s requirements, conditions on the acceptance of mailable matter are distinct from a determination that the matter is nonmailable. Moreover, compliance is straightforward: states need only provide information that is inscribed on the outside of Federal Ballot Mail envelopes, which will necessarily be in their possession.”
It also states that the rule only requires that ballot envelopes meet certain requirements, but that those requirements are tied to the voter data. Voter lists, however, “will be based entirely on data in the possession of, and provided by, the states, and the Postal Service will not change the content of those lists.”
The verification process also does not include USPS verifying addresses, names, voter eligibility, or citizenship status, and the rule states “it bears repeating that the Portal is not in any way a federal voting database; instead, it establishes a mechanism whereby states can provide data, which is fully within their possession and control, regarding Federal Ballot mailings.”
Left-wing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are agitating to stop implementation, claiming data requirements “violate voters’ privacy,” when it is evident that such groups simply want rampant voter fraud and no safeguards for elections.
It is unclear how the appeal process will go, but the rule gives states a “flexible” 30 days prior to the Nov. 3 election to notify USPS if they plan to comply.
