A U.S. Postal Service whistleblower is warning that a new system being developed to process mail ballots could prevent large batches of ballots from reaching voters if it is implemented for the November midterm elections.
The system was developed in response to President Trump’s March executive order seeking new restrictions on mail voting. Under the Postal Service’s new procedures, states would submit lists of mail-ballot recipients through a federal portal, while ballot envelopes would be required to meet new design and barcode standards before the Postal Service accepts them for delivery.
The whistleblower, whose allegations were released Tuesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, says the system was developed under an unusually compressed timetable and without sufficient testing. One of the biggest concerns involves what the disclosure describes as a zero-percent failure policy: if a sampled barcode in a batch cannot be properly scanned or matched, the entire batch could be rejected and returned to election officials. Because election offices can submit thousands or tens of thousands of ballots at once, a single problem could potentially delay many otherwise valid ballots.
The Postal Service says it is reviewing the allegations and maintains that development of its Federal Ballot Mail Portal has complied with court orders. USPS describes the portal as a secure way for election officials to provide lists of people receiving ballots and says its goal is reliable election-mail delivery. The White House has also disputed suggestions that the technology is unusually difficult to implement, arguing that the Postal Service already handles large-volume mailings and barcode systems.
Whether the new requirements will actually be used during the November election remains unresolved. A federal judge has temporarily blocked USPS from enforcing the new verification procedures while allowing continued development of the portal for voluntary use. A hearing scheduled for Thursday could determine whether that temporary restriction is extended as litigation over the administration’s mail-voting order continues.
The Readovia Lens
The stakes surrounding the Postal Service’s new mail-ballot procedures are amplified by the sheer number of Americans who vote by mail. Nearly three in 10 U.S. voters cast their ballots by mail in the 2024 election, making any significant change to Postal Service procedures potentially consequential for millions of voters and election offices across the country.
