The United States Postal Service filed a proposed rule on May 29 that would prohibit absentee/mail-in ballots for general elections from being delivered to anyone not on a list provided to USPS by state election officials. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on June 2.
Under the rule, states would submit to USPS the names of absentee/mail-in voters, as well as "the unique barcode applied to the outbound and return ballot mail envelope for such individuals." States would be allowed to modify this list up to the final day for sending out absentee/mail-in ballots. The rule would not apply to primary elections or to military or overseas voters.
President Donald Trump (R) issued Executive Order 14399, "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," on March 31, 2026. In supplementary background on the rule, USPS states, "The Executive Order discusses the importance of additional measures concerning the use of the mails to vote in federal elections, in order to facilitate enforcement of federal law, reduce the risk of fraud, and help protect the integrity of federal elections. ... [T]he Postal Service issues this proposed rule regarding the preparation of ballot mail for federal elections to facilitate the enforcement of federal law."
Under the rule, USPS would be required to confirm before mailing an absentee/mail-in ballot that the recipient is on the list provided by their state. The agency said that it would not change the information provided by state officials and that "states would retain full control over who would (or would not) be able to vote by mail in federal elections within each state."
"This provision will help determine adherence to federal law and facilitate law enforcement efforts," the USPS document stated. "For example, the provided lists will evidence how many ballots have been mailed, and allow law enforcement officials to compare the total number of mailed ballots to the total number of received ballots to detect potential issues meriting further investigation."
The rule would also create a new design for ballot envelopes, including "placement of a uniquely serialized Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) on each outbound and return ballot envelope."
Stakeholders have until July 2 to submit comments on the proposed rule to USPS.
After USPS's rule filing, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, "The entire Trump Administration will continue lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact – which includes the safety and security of American elections. ... This campaign pledge from the President is why millions of Americans sent him back to the White House."
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) said, "This is an unnecessary rule and does nothing to provide security in our elections. We’ll continue to evaluate and provide feedback to the USPS. Once again, we’re seeing federal overreach that threatens to undermine the rights of eligible voters and override states’ authority over elections. This is clearly another attempt by the Trump administration to exercise authority they don’t have."
On June 3, the NAACP filed a motion in a lawsuit against USPS that was originally brought in 2020 related to ballot delivery in that year's election. The motion alleges that the proposed rule would violate the terms of a settlement reached in 2021 requiring USPS to "prioritiz[e] ... the timely delivery of Election Mail." NAACP Legal Defense Fund associate director-counsel Samuel Spital said, "USPS has committed over and over to playing its part in democracy by prioritizing the timely delivery of mail-in ballots. ... And now for USPS to say we affirmatively will not deliver a ballot at all because it doesn’t meet criteria that we invented out of whole cloth, not only violates the settlement agreement, but also the historical role of the USPS in our democracy." USPS has until June 11 to file a response.
Trump's executive order also requires the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to transmit a list of citizens age 18 and older to state election officials at least 60 days before a federal election. The order grants enforcement powers to the U.S. Attorney General and federal agency heads, including withholding funding from noncompliant states.
In April, multiple groups of Democratic state and federal officials and nonprofit organizations filed four lawsuits, alleging that the requirements of the executive order are unconstitutional and seeking a court order blocking them from taking effect.
On May 28, Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a request to block the order. In his ruling, Nichols held that because the order had not yet been implemented, the plaintiffs in the case could not show the harm required to block it from taking effect. A federal judge in Massachusetts heard oral arguments in a separate case on June 2.
Every state has a method allowing voters to cast ballots without visiting a physical polling place.
Thirteen states require voters to provide a valid excuse to vote by mail. Twenty-nine states allow any eligible voter to cast an absentee/mail-in ballot. Eight states have all-mail voting systems in which every eligible voter is automatically sent a mail ballot.
For more information on absentee/mail-in voting in the United States, click here.
