Recent changes in USPS processing and postmarking practices have had a significant impact on the vote-by-mail system in Washington.
Why mailing a ballot close to Election Day may get it rejected for a late postmark
NPR: Relying on the U.S. Postal Service to return a mail-in ballot close to Election Day now comes with an additional risk for many voters — a late postmark that gets a vote rejected. The risk stems from mailing system changes that began last year. And those changes have pushed some election officials to encourage voters to consider returning their … Read More
Postal network redesign and mail ballot rejections in the 2026 primaries
Brookings: In 2025, the Postal Service changed how mail leaves thousands of post offices. Mail sent from those offices can now wait an extra day before beginning its journey. Voters send their mail ballots back through those offices, and unlike most mail, those ballots must arrive by a deadline. The 2026 primaries were the next federal elections after this change … Read More
Postal Officials Say Trump’s Mail-Ballot Push Will Create Widespread Errors
Erik Katz, Notus: President Donald Trump’s push to have the U.S. Postal Service screen voters for eligibility in the midterm election is running up against tight deadlines that some officials are warning will cause massive errors and disenfranchisement. The Supreme Court this week temporarily allowed the Postal Service to move forward with a new plan — based on a Trump executive order … Read More
Supreme Court Decision Letting the President Get the Postal Service Involved in Deciding Who Gets Mail-In Ballots Spells Election Chaos
Verdict Justia: Two decades ago, the Supreme Court had the wisdom to foresee the trouble that would ensue if courts made decisions about voting and elections when an election was looming. In the run-up to the 2006 midterms, the Court “reinstated a previously blocked citizenship law in Arizona”—Proposition 200—“just two and a half weeks before Election Day.” In a per curiam decision, … Read More
Trump Quietly Asserts Control Over Postal Service Amid Plans to Overhaul Voting
New York Times: Four weeks before President Trump signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail voting, he filed four nominations for vacancies on the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service. All four were Republicans. Three have expressed doubts about who won the 2020 presidential election and the security of voting. The selections broke with a longstanding practice … Read More
Supreme Court to rule soon on Trump’s Executive Order on mail voting
Sometime this week, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the DOJ’s application to stay an injunction that has barred federal agencies from fully implementing Trump’s executive order on mail voting. The ruling will probably determine if the order can be implemented in time to impact the November midterms. The case involves Executive Order 14399, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and … Read More