Overview
- The Postal Service issued a proposed rule on May 29 that would require states to give the agency lists of voters who requested mail-in or absentee ballots before the USPS processes those ballots.
- Congressional Democrats and 23 Democratic state attorneys general have sued to block the executive order and the USPS proposal, and challengers have appealed after a federal judge declined to issue an injunction.
- The proposed system would have states submit names and personalized ballot barcodes to the USPS, which would return a final “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List” that officials and law enforcement could use to compare mailed ballots with received ballots.
- State election officials and civil-rights groups warn the change would infringe on state authority, risk voter disenfranchisement and raise privacy concerns about centralizing participation data.
- The Justice Department and Homeland Security recently softened public descriptions of planned data collection, calling interagency coordination preliminary, while the White House says it aims to implement the policy before the November midterms though litigation may delay that timeline.