On Thursday, a group of Democratic governors urged the U.S. Postal Service to retract a proposed rule tied to an executive order from President Donald Trump. This order, signed in March, aimed to create a federal list of eligible voters and restrict ballot distribution to individuals on that list.
The order instructed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, alongside the Social Security Administration, to compile a ‘citizenship list’ for each state. The Postal Service was then tasked with limiting mailed ballots to those listed.
In late May, the Postal Service submitted a proposed rule to enforce this order, but a federal judge later blocked Trump’s directive. The judge’s ruling emphasized that setting election rules is a power exclusive to states and Congress, not the president.
‘Far from ensuring integrity in federal elections, the Proposed Rule would undermine trust in elections, needlessly complicate voting processes, arbitrarily disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, and undermine states’ constitutional role in ensuring free and fair elections,’ the governors stated in their letter.
Organized by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the effort included governors from California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Their appeal referenced the judge’s ruling and requested the Postal Service retract its proposed rule.
The rule, according to the governors, would give the Postal Service ‘unilateral power to refuse to deliver ballots if a state refuses to collaborate with President Trump’s unlawful directives.’
The Postal Service has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the matter. They had previously filed the proposed rule in the Federal Register after a separate lawsuit’s judge chose not to block Trump’s order due to lack of implementation steps taken by the administration at that point. The lawsuit, backed by Democratic and civil rights groups, is currently under appeal.
The order faced opposition from postal workers. Jonathan Smith, president of the American Postal Workers union, commented that their role is to move mail, not ‘verify voter eligibility.’
This is the second executive order signed by Trump, after returning to office, aiming to control election activities. His first order, also blocked by courts, sought proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Trump’s orders focus on noncitizen voting, despite studies showing such instances are rare. He has also raised concerns about mail voting fraud, yet there is little evidence to support widespread issues in mail voting.
A Brookings Institution report indicated only about four cases of mail voting fraud per ten million mail ballots.