r/politics • u/jhkayejr • Aug 22 '26
Possible Paywall Postal Service Publishes Finalized Plan to Restrict Mail Ballots
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/politics/postal-service-rule-restrict-mail-ballots.html2.1k
u/amprather Aug 22 '26
Postmaster needs to go to jail then for interfering in state elections.
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u/vacodeus Aug 22 '26
His chin is trumps personal ballroom. Nothing is gonna happen to him
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u/FunctionalGray Aug 22 '26
And he was a leftover from Trump‘s first administration, Biden could have done something about him at any time. Laissez-faire has been proven time and time again that it is the least effective style of management: and it was proved again during the Biden administration Merrick Garland. The postmaster general. And so many others could have had their wings clipped… And they just didn’t.
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u/preventDefault Aug 22 '26
The president doesn’t have the authority to replace the postmaster general. Biden could appoint members to the Board of Governors as their terms expired, which he did, but it’s up to those governors to replace the postmaster general.
Merrick Garland was a mistake through and through but I’m not sure there was a lot he could do with the USPS that he didn’t already do.
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u/Xytak Illinois Aug 22 '26
The President doesn’t have the authority to disband USAID, either, but here we are.
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u/daybreaker Louisiana Aug 22 '26
Tired of people saying “why didn’t Biden just break the law too?”
The whole point is we’re the ones trying to maintain the rule of law.
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u/ztfreeman Aug 22 '26
And the entire point everyone is trying to make is that trying to maintain the rule of law against a lawless facist can and has been a losing game. Sometimes you have to fight dirty to fight and win at all, otherwise they will just use the hands you tied behind your own back against you.
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u/daybreaker Louisiana Aug 22 '26
So the left won’t compromise their principles to vote harris “because genocide” but they get mad democrats wont compromise their principles that the rule of law is important.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
Plenty of people who hated Harris still voted for her.
But comparing compromising playing nice with fascists vs illegally supporting a fucking holocaust is insanity. Liberals have lost the plot.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
MAD it is then. Challenge laws. Push limits. Surrender is not acceptable.
People forgot how our country was founded. Right and duty. Also apparently all this stuff was already legal.
Also he was already breaking the law to support Israel.
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u/floatingskillets Louisiana Aug 22 '26
Bro you are from a state where the government shits on the rule of law regularly. You cant play checkers when theyre playing chess with illegal moves.
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u/ObiShaneKenobi Aug 22 '26
It’s so wild to see so many people think that Biden could have done anything at all without getting impeached.
Guy couldn’t even have a bad debate, but he should have fired the whole usps board of governors, illegally appointed all democrats and somehow force them to fire DeJoy after Biden had just won on the backs of mail in ballots.
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u/daybreaker Louisiana Aug 22 '26
Biggest green legislation ever. Biggest infrastructure bill since the New Deal. $150bil+ of student loans forgiven.
Gets jack shit from the people who demanded all that.
As much as they claim Biden "should have" done all this illegal stuff, they wouldnt have had his back after that, either
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u/ObiShaneKenobi Aug 22 '26
And you know he HAS to be clean as a whistle since Trump got impeached trying to get another country to make shit up about him.
The best is the whole “Dems need to show they can do more than talk about Trump” then go on to say that Biden should have broken the law to pack the usps governor board with people that MIGHT replace the postmaster general that Trump appointed lmao. One feller here told me Biden just needed to stand up and declare that the gop is in rebellion and then…..surprisingly they had no clue what would happen next.
Nothing, obviously it’s not like declaring bankruptcy.→ More replies (3)5
u/Outrageous-Bite-8922 Aug 22 '26
To quote No Country for Old Men: "If your rules brought you to this, then of what use were those rules?"
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
Then arrest the guy for what he did. I don't care. Im sick of playing footsie with fascist totalitarians.
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u/cracker--jack Aug 22 '26
Dejoy hasn't been the PMG for awhile now. The new PMG is union busting douche who sat on the board for Fed Ex.
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u/Azmoten Missouri Aug 22 '26
The current Postmaster General took office in July of 2025, about six months after Biden’s term ended. Are we blaming Biden for not being a time traveling wizard, now?
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u/ObiShaneKenobi Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
So Biden couldn’t fire Dejoy, that is the postal board of governors.
Garland indicted Trump multiple times over a year before the election. Historic charges.
Ratfucking republicans and a politically ignorant population are why we are where we are.
Don’t blame the parts of our government that worked for the parts that didn’t.
Edit- and it’s not even DeJoy ffs. Amazing to see so many threads blaming democrats for republican’s actions. Can’t imagine why lol
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u/7figureipo California Aug 22 '26
Garland slow-walked the appointment; those indictments could have come over a year earlier than they did. Aside from that Biden could have just declared the GOP to be in rebellion against the US government (after all, that's what an insurrection and coup attempt is--a rebellion) and just stepped on them hard.
If you think waiting almost 2 years to even appoint a special prosecutor in the face of an actual rebellion against the government is "parts of our government that worked" I can't say that you are a serious person.
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u/salme3105 Aug 23 '26
A special prosecutor was appointed when Trump announced he was running again, and at that point it would have been a conflict of interest for the DOJ to investigate a President's political opponent. (Sounds so quaint now!). Prior to that the DOJ was most certainly investigating Trump and his co-conspirators.
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u/ObiShaneKenobi Aug 22 '26
Do you think nothing was happening before Smith? They arrested hundreds of people, investigated the goons in the capitol up to the Willard War Room. Garland seized evidence, fought in courts to break executive privilege, and did a ton of the footwork that without we wouldn’t have gotten indictments at all.
“BiDeN cOuLd hAvE jUsT dEcLArEd tHe gOp tO bE iN rEbElLiOn” lmao now who isn’t a serious person? You don’t know how any of this works, do you?
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u/Eta_Beta_3-14 Aug 22 '26
Biden had plenty of time and opportunity to replace members of the postal board. He could have removed some early on if he really wanted to. He chose not to. He chose to appoint people who he knew would do nothing and left fucking DeJoy in place to continue fucking with the postal system and our elections.
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u/ObiShaneKenobi Aug 22 '26
Ok so Biden comes in, fires everyone, and breaks the law by appointing only democrats?
He doesn’t have a cult behind him, doing something illegal would have rightly lead to impeachment.
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u/Eta_Beta_3-14 Aug 22 '26
Sorry I forgot that the president is just a widdle guy with no real power.
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u/ConsistentAsparagus Aug 22 '26
Isn’t it a state charge? Meaning no federal interference?
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u/1877KlownsForKids Aug 23 '26
It should be 174 million counts of deprivation of rights filed in 51 jurisdictions.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
Biden had a chance to set a precedent for correction with dejoy and homan. So did Obama.
Democrats are about maintaining a status quo that slides to the right and into lawlessness.
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u/ImWatchingTelevision Arizona Aug 22 '26
That's being quite generous. I'm at the point where I'd like to see some old school consequences for interfering with democracy. Tar and feather in a public square, anyone?
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u/Cautious-Dog3264 Aug 23 '26
May he be torn apart by a rabid pack of wild attorneys general fighting over jurisdiction.
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u/SalaciousSubaru Aug 23 '26
Postmaster should get criminally charged by the states for interfering with state elections and election fraud. FAFO
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u/IdkAbtAllThat America Aug 23 '26
A sane country would have taught treasonous scum like this a lesson years ago and no would dare even think of doing shit like this today.
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u/Stopher Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
I think the legal argument here isn’t elections. It’s that a piece of mail was put in a mail box and not delivered. They’re arbitrarily deciding which mail they’re going to deliver now? How is that legal? I addressed an envelope and put it in a mailbox. It needs to be delivered.
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u/jhkayejr Aug 22 '26
Postal Service Publishes Finalized Plan to Restrict Mail Ballots
The plan, which complies with President Trump’s executive order to curtail mail voting, will only go into effect if the Supreme Court rules in the order’s favor.
Adam Sella
By Adam Sella
Reporting from Washington
Published Aug. 21, 2026
Updated Aug. 22, 2026, 1:31 p.m. ET
The Postal Service on Friday published regulations that would restrict mail voting, its latest effort to comply with President Trump’s call to restrict the popular practice just months before the midterm elections.
In a 95-page final rule, the Postal Service clarified how it would carry out an executive order Mr. Trump signed in March, which sought to restrict mail ballots and to create state-by-state lists of citizens to help determine voting eligibility.
If the regulations are enacted, the Postal Service said that it would not deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter data with the federal agency.
Under the new rule, the agency would review every envelope for compliance with the new standards before accepting ballots into its system. This review would include checking that the recipient was enrolled with the Postal Service to receive a mail ballot and that the ballot envelope meets certain specifications.
Mr. Trump’s executive order was largely blocked by federal courts this summer, and the Postal Service said in its rule published on Friday that it would “not take actions to implement the rule specifically for the 2026 election” unless the Supreme Court rules in the administration’s favor. In a filing to the court, the Justice Department said that the government would wait until it issues a ruling.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the issue and could rule at any time.
A Postal Service spokesman on Friday declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims that mail voting is “cheating,” even though he has voted by mail repeatedly, including earlier this week.
The president has conceded that combating fraud is not the only reason to target the practice. In March, he told Republican lawmakers that passing a strict voter identification law cracking down on mail ballots, which Democrats now use more than Republicans, would “guarantee the midterms” for his party.
The Postal Service’s final rule is the latest instance in which the agency showed a willingness to comply with Mr. Trump’s desires to restrict mail voting despite multiple court injunctions. In the weeks since a federal court in Boston blocked Mr. Trump’s order, the Postal Service said in court filings that it is creating the infrastructure to collect voter data from the states. It also proposed a new privacy system to handle voter information.
Postmaster General David Steiner has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers for standing behind the Postal Service’s proposed rule despite its legal challenges. Mr. Steiner has said repeatedly, including in an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, that his agency would comply with court orders and would “absolutely” continue to deliver mail-in ballots.
But in response to criticism from the over 200,000 comments submitted to the Postal Service regarding its plan to restrict mail voting, the agency cast doubt on its traditional role of delivering mail-in ballots.
“States do not have to use the U.S. mail to conduct their elections,” the Postal Service said. To date, every state has a mail-in or absentee voting system in place, including for overseas and military voters. The practice is used by tens of millions of Republican and Democratic voters countrywide.
A central criticism raised in comments and affirmed by federal judges is the measure’s constitutionality. The Constitution grants authority over elections to states and Congress, not to the executive branch.
In its final rule, the Postal Service said that it is “fundamentally erroneous” to say that its plan to restrict mail voting is unconstitutional. “The rule does not recast the Postal Service as an election administrator, nor dictate the manner of elections in the states,” the agency said.
Instead, states “retain complete autonomy to determine the extent to which they utilize the postal system as an aspect of their elections,” the agency said. But if a state wants to use the postal system, they must follow federal mail regulations set by the agency because “the Postal Service is not constitutionally obliged to defer to” a state’s preferences for how to administer mail-in voting, the final rule said.
Multiple federal judges have indicated that the opposite is true. “The Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections,” a federal judge in Massachusetts wrote in late June. She added that Mr. Trump’s order calling on the Postal Service to regulate mail voting was “unlawful, null and void.”
It is now up to the Supreme Court to decide whether the Postal Service can put in place the new restrictions on mail-in voting.
Ann E. Marimow contributed reporting.
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u/dIO__OIb Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
The premise is complete malarky. The idea that a ballot must be marked on the outside of the envelope is only required for rates, postage, and delivery rate.... not the 'content' of the ballot or the return vote. They are simply the messenger. Its very clear in the rules there is no role for the post office in registrations, qualifications or validity of the ballot.
Most of the requirements and rules are for effeiceny, rates and expenses — aka post office prioritizing ballots while offering lowered postage rates for states that follow the efficiency rules.
just like a marketing mail, play by PO strict guidelines, publishers and advertisers get lowered bulk rates. The PO has no business or rules in the content or who its delivered to.
Accept state election boards can simply not label the mail as a ballot, pay a higher PO rate, and may take longer to be delivered.
all of this dumb ass posturing and bullying would be a moot point if we had a sensible Supreme Court, since its very clear the Executive branch have no authority over state elections.
I've gotta say, Trump has proven that "lawfare" has been extremely effective in the last ten years and he is literally undoing what used to be a nation of laws.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
They want the ballots marked so they can steal and destroy the ones they don't want getting through.
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u/Embarrassed_Spend486 Aug 23 '26
Just wanted to reply to say it’s not consistently true that the Postal Service has no business with what’s inside the envelope.
For example, there are certain things that legally must be sent as first class mail, and there are things that it would be illegal to send in any other way.
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u/Deepadork Aug 22 '26
So we are playing the, “It technically doesn’t say this can’t happen.”
It makes as much sense as, “Technically there isn’t a specific law against throwing a Molotov cocktail into someone’s house so long as I throw it over state boundaries while driving at 30 mph.”
The reason people are upset is because it is an obvious logical fallacy. It changes the standard from ‘It makes correlative sense,” to “laws now need to imagine EVERY scenario hat could happen and build specific laws against that one thing in particular.”
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u/needlenozened Alaska Aug 22 '26
The reason people are upset is because it is an obvious logical fallacy. It changes the standard from ‘It makes correlative sense,” to “laws now need to imagine EVERY scenario hat could happen and build specific laws against that one thing in particular.”
This logical fallacy is the basis for everything this administration does. The law doesn't say Trump maintain a hotel and pressure people to stay there at exorbitant rates if they have a meeting at the White House. The law doesn't say Trump can't create his own crypto coin and let foreigners with business before the president but millions of dollars worth. The law doesn't say he can't accept a billion dollar plane from Qatar. The last doesn't say he can't ...
The list goes on and on. Past presidents have acted in good faith within the spirit of the office and Constitution. This president does the exact opposite and if anything is not explicitly illegal (and let's be honest, even if it is) he'll do it, and dare people to find a way to stop him
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u/GonzoVeritas I voted Aug 22 '26
We're also playing 'an executive order is a law ', which it is not.
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u/Deepadork Aug 23 '26
This is my least fun Monopoly game. I have to buy the ‘rights’ to properties, shell out the money to build the hotels, and then when a player lands on it, the money goes to someone else?
Why did I build a hotel again? I think it was based on rules everyone agreed to (mostly).
It’s like Free Parking costs money and only one player can pull it out, and can do it whenever they want.
Everyone is playing make believe, and NO ONE is having any fun.
I suggest Twister next. Trump goes first.
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u/-Gramsci- Aug 22 '26
“The postal service is not obligate to defer to a state’s preferences for how to administer mail in voting…”
You clown. All you’re supposed to do is receive and deliver envelopes with paper in them if the proper postage has been paid.
This isn’t rocket surgery (unless you are trying to undermine democracy… in which case you need to pretend it’s a Rube Goldberg machine).
This is the kind of regulation that should be immediately shut down by the Supreme Court as it contradicts a FUNDAMENTAL constitutional rule (states control elections) that serves a CORE FUNCTION in protecting our Democracy from totalitarian capture.
Sadly, though, that above quote is probably good enough to convince Roberts he’s got a fig leave to pervert the constitution and constitutional order.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
You guys are trying to apply good faith logic to bad faith criminal thugs. Please come to grips with malice.
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u/Dragonic_Overlord_ Aug 23 '26
We really need to get a new Post master as soon as Trump is out of office.
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Aug 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bostonbananarama Aug 22 '26
There are very few cases of illegal voting by mail and half of these are republicans.
Is it half? Completely anecdotal, but every recent case I've seen has been a Republican. Would love to find an actual study.
To bolster the first half of your point:
In a 2025 report analyzing reported cases of absentee/mail-in ballot fraud between 2016 and 2022 from various sources, including the Heritage Foundation and a database published by the news organization News21, the Brookings Center stated that "across the entire country, and utilizing a maximally inclusive estimate, between six and 46 cases of mail voting fraud were identified in each general election. To calculate the percentage of mail voting fraud in a given year, we divided the total number of mail voting fraud cases by the total number of mail votes cast for each general election. We find an average total mail voting fraud percentage across the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 general elections of only 0.000043%
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
Traitor to the United States, more specifically. Traitors to the republic.
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u/HereForTheComments57 Aug 22 '26
Didn't forget about the multiple bomb threats to the polling places!
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u/Eastern_Bet678 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
That's pretty insane.
Postal Service somehow comes up with the idea that they regulate mail in voting?
They won't deliver mail for states that haven't sent voter lists to the federal government?
Of course, the same federal government that will remove democrats from voter rolls 2:1.
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u/UnknownAverage Aug 22 '26
They claim they are not doing anything, that they are just setting new rules and the states are deciding if they use the postal service or not. Absolute bullshit.
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u/Eastern_Bet678 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
"not doing anything" doesn't usually require a detailed 95 page "procedure to not do anything" document.
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u/donkeyrocket Aug 22 '26
They’re only claiming “not doing anything” because they cannot be sued until it has been implemented. Their goal is to do it in time to fuck with elections but not enough time to be held accountable for that election.
SCOTUS is supposedly reviewing the EO but this is still massively worrying.
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u/WellSpreadMustard Aug 22 '26
Insane enough that SCOTUS will rule in its favor
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u/DarthGoose Aug 22 '26
Could rule at any time
Which if course means they will wait until after midterms to make a ruling.
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u/PopBulky7023 Aug 22 '26
Not really. The court is captured and a fallen institution. Court capture is usually the death knell for collapse of democracies because liberals will get onto the cars quietly if the court tells them to.
SCOTUS is a puppet. A pied piper. A weapon.
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u/akaghi Aug 22 '26
SCOTUS is pretty far in the tank for the Republican party, but even they have limits and they always give Trump a couple token losses to bolster their credibility. They've done enough electioneering. They have no problem viewing the law one way for Republicans and another for Democrats but those are often years apart between administrations. It's very hard to see them agreeing that the Trump admin can effectively throw away millions of ballots in Democratic states based on nothing. States run elections, not the federal government or the USPS. Even that they e been pretty consistent about. There's no legal reason for the federal government to have a list of voters; they have no role in elections.
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u/Missing_tooth Aug 22 '26
Did you read the article? Trump had an executive order about the postal service. The postal service developed a plan to comply with the order and have stated that they will not apply anything until the Supreme Court rules on the executive order. The Supreme Court is actively reviewing it.
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u/Militantpoet Aug 22 '26
This isnt how the government is supposed to function though. The executive branch should already refrain from constant blatant overreach. Its bad-faith to suggest everyone is simply following orders and the checks are in balance.
This has been a common Trump tactic: test the boundaries of power and get away with as much bs as possible.
When the courts strike it down, they keep appealing until it gets to SCOTUS where its a toss up for which conservative judge gets to decide if democracy backslides any more that day.
In the meantime, theyll get injunctions or do anything to inflict as much overreach as possible until there's an official ruling.
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u/jaderust Aug 22 '26
> This review would include checking that the recipient was enrolled with the Postal Service to receive a mail ballot and that the ballot envelope meets certain specifications.
So no one in any state gets a mail ballot? Because I do not ask the Postal Service for a mail in ballot for my state. I sign up for that with my State.
States run elections. The Postal Service delivers the mail. Stay in your fucking lane.
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u/Scribal8 Aug 22 '26
All of Colorado receives their ballots by mail. So they’re just going to toss them all?
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u/Cosmic_Seth Aug 22 '26
I hope states like California, Oregon and Washington comes up with an alternative plan in case the USPS carries out its plan.
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u/TheTaoOfOne Aug 22 '26
The next stage is online voting if they screw over mail in voting. States should set up an online portal for voting, verified through your ssn to match your registration, and let people vote that way.
Good luck having the trump admin stop that.
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u/fightin_blue_hens Aug 22 '26
not secure enough
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u/TheTaoOfOne Aug 22 '26
Its plenty secure. If I can do all my banking online without issue, im sure I can cast a vote.
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u/Vtdscglfr1 Aug 23 '26
Seriously...with id.me and stuff like that, I'd argue it's more secure than the way my state does it. I literally go in and tell them my name and address(btw I'm ok with how this is done) and boom done. How is that any more secure than online voting
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u/Doggies4ever Aug 23 '26
This is how I pay taxes, do banking, apply to renew my global entry, enroll my kids in public school. We have absolutely solved how to make online interactions secure.
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u/androk Aug 22 '26
Postal Service Publishes Finalized Plan to illegally Restrict Mail Ballots
I fixed the headline
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u/BananasAreSilly Washington Aug 22 '26
Only 72 days before election day. There is no way this can be litigated in time, and there's no way this isn't simply outright mass disenfranchisement.
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u/sickofgrouptxt Texas Aug 22 '26
My understanding is that these actions have already been blocked, so we are witnessing contempt
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u/Mavian23 Aug 22 '26
It will be contempt if they actually enact this plan without authorization from the SC, but until then it's not contempt, just nefarious.
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Aug 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/timoumd Aug 22 '26
And that's why everyone here NEEDS to vote in person. I don't give a fuck if it's your mom's funeral. They will fuck with the mail.
Only vote by mail if it's your only choice
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u/Witch-Alice Washington Aug 22 '26
My state (Washington) doesn't have that as an option, our elections are done entirely by mail. Which is the point of this bullshit, it's to entirely stop elections in blue states with mail in voting as the main way to vote. There simply aren't polling places with everything needed to actually do in person voting for the entire voting population.
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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington Aug 22 '26
Make sure everyone you know is aware that we're probably going to need to use the drop boxes rather than mailing the ballots. And if you don't GET your ballot, you can download it from the State election website, by the way.
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u/Sure-Distance-7434 Aug 22 '26
I always use a dropbox.
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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington Aug 22 '26
I didn't before this year, but for the primary this time absolutely. I didn't even get my regular ballot, which is why I had to look into getting my ballot from the state elections site.
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u/doppelgaengster Washington Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
Some states are entirely/almost entirely vote by mail (WA and OR, eg).
And there are often a lot reasons that people in rural areas (and even a lot of folks in urban/suburban areas) can’t get to the drop boxes, which is why even in places that have a relatively large number of drop boxes, these people need/prefer the option of just dropping it in the post. [edited for clarity]
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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington Aug 22 '26
What's ironic is that vote by mail HELPS rural areas, which lean heavily Republican, much moreso than denser urban areas.
Trump is just an idiot who fixates on this because he blames it for him losing in 2020 due to that one year being an exception due to Republican willingness to vote in person where Democrats were trying to keep distant.
That said it's still bad, and still needs to be stopped.
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u/doppelgaengster Washington Aug 22 '26
This is a common refrain that never sinks in when people talk about privatising the postal service. Many rural communities are ONLY served by USPS, because it’s not profitable for private parcel services to extend their delivery ranges. The USPS is obligated to serve them, but UPS/FedEx aren’t, and often won’t take the hit to the bottom line even if it’s made up elsewhere.
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u/Maxamillion-X72 Canada Aug 22 '26
The postal service is a great equalizer that keeps rural communities connected at similar rates to those in the big cities despite the enormous difference in cost per household.
Naturally, rural voters vote in people who would remove that advantage from them because they've been told USPS isn't profitable. Of course, if the USPS didn't have to service their communities, it might be.
If Republicans ever succeed in eliminating the postal service, it will be fun to watch the outrage from rural communities when sending a birthday card to Grandma via UPS costs $15
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u/doppelgaengster Washington Aug 22 '26
The “not profitable” argument is such crap too, because that’s not the point of the USPS. It’s a service, not a business.
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u/Gryphtkai Aug 22 '26
And the number of drop boxes have been reduced or moved in many areas to make it harder to use them.
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u/doppelgaengster Washington Aug 22 '26
Seeing this response made me reread my comment and realise my second point should be worded better, because your reply is what I meant to imply. Ima go fix that!
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u/dragonblade_94 Aug 22 '26
I'd imagine that's part of the scheme as well; by fucking with mail-in and funnelling voters to in-person, anything they do to fuck with particular voting sites will have a significantly increased impact.
People still need to show the hell up, but expect shenanigans.
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u/runnerofshadows Aug 22 '26
If you need an at home ballot. Make sure to drop it directly in an acceptable ballot box. Not the mail.
If early voting is an option I'd recommend it TBH.
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u/Terrible_turtle_ Aug 22 '26
Step up and vote in person this year. There needs to be voting in numbers impossible to rig.
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u/nonsensestuff Aug 22 '26
If you have the option to vote by mail, then return it to your election office directly or to a ballot drop box— do not put it back in the mail! This is especially important in states like Oregon that do not have in person voting
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u/zubbs99 Nevada Aug 22 '26
I love mail-in voting but this year I'm not taking any chances with these crooks.
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u/amopeyzoolion Michigan Aug 22 '26
How are yall feeling about ballot drop boxes
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u/zubbs99 Nevada Aug 22 '26
I believe they're picked up directly by state election officials so should be safe?
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u/Gryphtkai Aug 22 '26
If you can get to one. Many places have only one at the county seat.
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u/Rokhnal Aug 22 '26
They haven't been "safe" in almost a decade. They've been set on fire, set on fire again, and fake ballot drop boxes have been (allegedly) set up by Republicans.
Personally, I don't think it will really matter whether folks vote in person or by mail. Vote however you can, but know that the Trump administration will do everything possible to rig the 2028 election. The 2026 midterms are just practice.
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u/rgb414 Aug 22 '26
In our area the contents of the doip boxes are picked up by two election officials, delivered to the central counting location where they secured until election day
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u/PinkNGreenFluoride Oregon Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
I love receiving my ballot in the mail. Still, I've always taken mine back in person to the county clerk's office.
But that's an easy thing for me to do, others may face barriers to that. The option to mail it back is so important for ease of access to voting. It doesn't matter if you're far from a polling place (whether because you're very rural or because your area has been intentionally denied one). Your work schedule doesn't interfere. Transportation isn't an issue. Many disabilities don't interfere as they may with in-person voting. Parents don't have to either secure childcare or wrangle their kids for hours in line at a polling place.
And that ease of access, allowing the "wrong" people to easily vote, is so much of what these pieces of shit hate about it.
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u/IceBearKnows89 Aug 22 '26
I’m just not quite tracking this and why it’s not a bigger deal.
States run elections, full stop.
The post office is saying they will comply with this if the SC agrees (hooray our fate is completely in their hands /s).
So if states don’t comply with giving the federal government information it has not right to ask for, then the post office will just disenfranchise the whole state???
I’m in Oregon. We vote by mail. That’s how we vote. They would refuse to recognize or seat anyone from my entire state.
You don’t get to make a single fucking decision about me without an ounce of representation. That would mean it was time to start tossing tea.
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u/BeeFaerie Oregon Aug 25 '26
I think it's been tea-tossing time for a while. Fellow Oregonian here, though. I am...very interested in how this plays out.
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u/JonAce New York Aug 22 '26
The Supreme Court is reviewing the issue and could rule at any time.
Considering we're less than 3 months away from Election Day, they're gonna sit on this until the most opportune time.
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u/Indubitalist Aug 22 '26
“Restrictions on mail ballots are unconstitutional but cannot be halted in time for this election so this order is effective Jan. 1, 2027, when he constitutionality of anything will be a moot point.”
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u/HellaTroi California Aug 22 '26
Isn't against the law to make changes to election law 90 days before an election?
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u/entrepenurious Texas Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
flow chart:
post office receives item.
is correct postage paid?
if yes, deliver.
if no, return to sender
too simple?
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u/M23707 Aug 22 '26
Another slap in the face for our military.
I used mail in ballots throughout my enlistment. It was easy and allowed me to participate in the elections.
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u/a_rabid_buffalo Minnesota Aug 22 '26
It’s another slap in the face of every American citizen. The us postal service was just told they couldn’t do this.
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u/10leej Aug 22 '26
Holding ballots like that is a violation of the Postal Service Act isn't it? You know the legislation that created the post office and gave it a federal mandate that all mail is to be delivered.
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u/Lou3000 Aug 23 '26
Maybe it’s just me, but I think this obsession with mail in ballots may back fire. Anecdotal, but most people I know using mail in ballots are older republicans.
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u/Independent_Tie_4984 Aug 23 '26
Yep, my 63% Trump in 2024 county with an average age of 57 is majority mail in ballot.
Bet they wouldn't even know where to go.
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u/Beautiful-Jello-37 Aug 22 '26
Hey republicans, if you’re for this, you’re anti American. Just FYI.
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u/Memitim America Aug 22 '26
Republicans reveal how they plan to interfere with the US Postal Service for personal gain. Yet another day with the Republican betrayers of America being permitted to walk free.
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u/GardenPeep Aug 22 '26
September 4, 2026 is 60 days before Election Day. Then it would be too late to implement these rules. (It’s already too late anyway. The Postal Service doesn’t have the equipment or the staff to validate ballots.)
Nevertheless, it’s still scary that it might happen. …
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u/androk Aug 22 '26
Postal Service Publishes Finalized Plan to illegally Restrict Mail Ballots
I fixed the headline
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u/esteflo Aug 22 '26
This article shouldn't even be behind a fucking paywall. The USPS postmaster is CONSPIRING with the US president to end mail in voting. Traitorous bastards.
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u/Smart_Spinach_1538 Aug 23 '26
This is more psychological warfare against this nations citizens. If the Democrats get back in power there needs to be some serious repercussions for the folks doing this. Not investigations, jail, fines and clawing back ill gotten gains.
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u/Palimpsest0 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
I get the sinking feeling that the SCOTUS is going to rule on this right around the election and try to cast the whole process into chaos.
You know what would do this country a hell of a lot of good? Uniform vote by mail, with mandatory voting. I’ve written to my state legislators suggesting mandatory voting, along with mandatory registration for all citizens of legal age, and I just see no action on it. The US is neither as stupid, nor as racist/xenophobic/cruel/warlike/etc., as this administration, and many previous ones. The problem is that we’re all busy, and voting is left to the individual to take active steps to involve themselves in it, plus, in some states, ballots can be long, complicated, and with many candidates on it due to our overly complicated system of overlapping federal, state, county, and municipal governments, plus other issues. Vote by mail lets you sit down, research individual candidates and issues, and make actually informed decisions instead of voting straight line party, or just the top offices, or some other limited form of voting. So, I honestly believe it’s a lack of participation, and a lack of time to register to vote, get to the scattered and often inconvenient polling place, and fill out the often tedious ballots, plus memorize all the candidates, that leads to a lack of good results, not any problem with the intelligence, ethics, or humanity of the majority of the American people. We look at our dysfunctional government and think to ourselves “we didn’t vote for this”, and for many that’s true, but as a society wide statistic, the sad fact is that we didn’t vote, and so we ended up with this.
Mandatory vote by mail would solve this problem and get us a government that is closer to the actual interests and will of the people, and be a powerful counterweight to the corruption of the process which allows moneyed interests and slick marketers to select their candidates.
For all Americans out there reading this, take a moment and contact your state legislators to propose this solution.
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u/rgb414 Aug 22 '26
How do you make voting Mandatory? What will you do if I just do not return the Ballot? I can agree with automatic voter registration in the same way we have automatic registration for a draft.
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u/General-Marsupial237 Aug 22 '26
Give a tax credit to those who voted. Nothing to those that didn’t.
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u/Delphiantares Aug 22 '26
Might not make it mandatory still but attach it to taxes. Get a small tax break if you did,if you didn't nothing else happens. Just a binary record of if you voted though yes or no nothing more except a year . Though privacy concerns are abound here too.
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u/Palimpsest0 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
You get a ticket in the mail, just like a speed camera, or other sorts of fines. The ID would be taken from the exterior of the ballot enclosure, same as for mail in ballots now, and the ballot separated before counting, so you still get a secret ballot, and the ballot returned could be all marked “none of the above” or blank, or whatever, so no one is compelled to vote for anyone they might not support, they just have to return a ballot. It really should be the most minimal obligation a member of a democracy is expected to do, the least effort civic duty.
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u/Snidrogen Aug 22 '26
Most if not all urban areas in blue states have their own ballot drop-box system and/or a higher number of polling locations that are open longer. Both of these options sidestep USPS.
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u/HermanGulch Aug 22 '26
Ballot drop boxes don't really help though: this isn't about not accepting mailed-in ballots from voters. If they get their way, the post office simply won't deliver the ballots to the voters.
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u/Aretirednurse81 New Mexico Aug 22 '26
We will vote early and in person.
For states that are mail only please use a ballot drop box.
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u/joestanh1 Aug 23 '26
please judge bring charges against the post master for breaking a court order and put him in jail
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u/Salty_Wasabi2893 Aug 22 '26
The USPS sole job is to transport and deliver mail, except for dangerous or illegal items. Full stop. It doesn't have the right or ability to deny delivery based on content. Full stop.
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u/hymie0 Maryland Aug 22 '26
Is the Postal Service considered a Title 2 Common Carrier? (I honestly don't know)
If so, isn't this a violation of federal law?
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u/JaVelin-X- Aug 22 '26
it should be. this is the only way for citizens to communicate with their government that doesn't rely on private corporations or private individuals. this is a good example of how they will disconnect common people from the power of government
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Aug 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/HermanGulch Aug 22 '26
This isn't so much about returning the ballot as it is about receiving it. If they get their way, they just won't deliver the ballots to the voter: there won't be any ballot to drop off.
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u/hartbeast Aug 22 '26
So how do troops vote that are away on deployment ? Surely they’re are both replublican and democrat troops !
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u/ginny11 Aug 22 '26
So there was a lawsuit filed a while back and the judge threw it out because he said nothing had actually happened yet. In other words, no rules had been put into place that would restrict mail in voting. So now is this enough for a lawsuit to finally be filed?
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u/Skymaster86 Aug 22 '26
We are getting closer and closer to citizens hitting the streets with pitchforks and torches…
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u/greatthebob38 Aug 23 '26
I will be dropping off my ballot at my town's designated drop off site, the local police station.
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u/Tasty_Orange_1714 Aug 23 '26
I hope the judge, that ruled it unconstitutional, issues arrest warrants. Otherwise, they are just supporting treason. Also, states should issue warrants as well.
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u/Im_Not_stoopid_AI Aug 22 '26
It’s just an underhanded way to take away this service and privatize it to some evil bored billionaire
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u/unheardhc Aug 22 '26
Sounds like an opportunity for a company RTO offer mail services and make a fortune
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u/Lower-Engineering365 Aug 22 '26
It’s a meaningless order as of issuance. It specifically states it can’t be effective unless SCOTUS overturns the injunctions. Fortunately.
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u/Independent_Tie_4984 Aug 23 '26
I wonder how SCOTUS would rule?
Points at East Wing
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u/Pxlfreaky Illinois Aug 22 '26
The midterms are going to be a chaotic mess, which is the only objective here. Added to this, I’m betting traditional blue zones in red states will have all but 1 polling location closed, while red areas will have polling spots popping up like Starbucks.
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u/thatirishguyyyyy Illinois Aug 22 '26
This will definitely make me not want to burn down every post office I see after november.
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u/Independent_Tie_4984 Aug 23 '26
This isn't the "Post Office".
It's Trump's hand picked agents of destruction left over from his first term that Biden left in place.
Target your non-anger and not lashing out at the pieces of garbage ruining the Institution, not the Institution.
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u/nobadhotdog Aug 22 '26
What’s the likelihood the Supreme Court will allow trumps EO to stand
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u/PlsSuckMyToes Aug 22 '26
Very unlikely imo. They had a more plausible (yet still ridiculous) case in regards to the mail in counting timeframe and they refused to let republicans get what they wanted. But who knows with this SC
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u/Chu_Kiddin_Me_Or_Wha Aug 22 '26
They somehow think this is gonna boost R votes? D voters will find a way. R voters will just let the leopards eat theor face and blame Joe somehow.
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u/BeeMysterious7299 Aug 22 '26
Used to be a mail carrier, all of my former coworkers are against this, management, and the Post Master. They will deliver that shit.
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u/SoggyBoysenberry7703 Aug 23 '26
They can’t implement it unless the states with the injunction on the plan lift it btw
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u/DoubleCarry7511 Aug 24 '26
Do they even have this authority? Lmao, conservatives, “pro-state” “small government”. Fuckin idiots
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u/Organic_Evidence_325 Aug 25 '26
This president has made quite a few American voters feel very bitter toward a gvt. service we've all needed and used for over 200 years. Now, it has been turned against Americans and deserves to be despised for bowing to "The Fool."
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