A mail-in poll that includes California’s Proposition 50 is seen on this illustration taken in Encinitas, California, U.S., October 21, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
The U.S. Postal Service proposed new guidelines Friday that might require states to offer voter-level knowledge on mail-in ballots in federal elections, at some point after a federal decide declined to instantly block President Donald Trump’s govt order tightening mail-in voting guidelines.
The proposal would require states to undergo the Postal Service the names and addresses of voters receiving mail-in or absentee ballots, together with distinctive barcodes tied to every voter’s outbound and return poll envelopes.
USPS mentioned the rule would assist decide what number of ballots have been mailed and permit officers to match that determine with the variety of ballots returned to detect potential points for additional investigation.
The rule would apply to normal, particular and runoff federal elections, however not primaries or ballots despatched to navy and abroad voters.
The proposal shifts USPS from recommending ballot-mail practices to mandating them for federal elections. The rule would require official logos, monitoring barcodes, and a reporting system linking voters to particular envelopes.
USPS would use the information to create state-specific “Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists” by a brand new Federal Poll Mail Portal. The proposal would additionally let the USPS return outbound federal poll mailings that don’t meet the brand new requirements or usually are not tied to state-submitted voter lists.
States would nonetheless management who’s eligible to vote by mail. The Structure designates states to supervise most election-related features, not the federal authorities.
The rule follows Trump’s March 31 govt order on elections that directed USPS to start a rulemaking on mail-in and absentee poll providers.
A federal decide on Thursday declined to instantly block the mail-voting provisions of the order, discovering the problem untimely as a result of companies had not but carried it out.
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The decide’s Thursday ruling leaves open the chance that Democrats may problem the coverage once more as soon as the administration takes additional steps to implement it.
Democrats and lots of voting rights teams have argued that Trump’s order intrudes on states’ authority over elections and will make it tougher to vote by mail. The administration previously has defended steps to tighten the method as election-integrity measures.
The proposed rule is scheduled to be revealed within the Federal Register on June 2. Public feedback are due 30 days after publication.
