r/politics • u/votebeat ✔ Verified • 6h ago
No Paywall USPS whistleblower alleges rushed mail ballot systems could disenfranchise voters
https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/09/01/usps-election-mail-ballots-plan-whistleblower-richard-blumenthal/•
u/fowlraul Oregon 6h ago
That’s their plan, they aren’t trying to hide it from intelligent people at all.
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u/votebeat ✔ Verified 6h ago
A U.S. Postal Service whistleblower is warning that the agency’s efforts to develop systems to restrict mail ballot delivery for the November election have been rushed through testing, are unreliable, and could prevent millions of Americans from receiving mail ballots this November.
The anonymous whistleblower’s concerns were detailed in a 20-page complaint released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (D-Conn.) office Tuesday that describes the Postal Service plans, which have been temporarily frozen by a court order, as “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed.”
Problems with the system have become so widespread, the letter detailing the whistleblower’s complaint said, that a number of Postal Service officials have described development of a planned election mail ballot IT system as “a shit show.”
At issue is an effort by the Trump administration to use the Postal Service to place new restrictions on the delivery of mail ballots this November.
President Donald Trump released an executive order in March directing the Postal Service to set up the new rules, which prompted a tangle of rapid lawsuits from voting rights groups, nearly two dozen Democrat-led states, and Democratic political organizations.
Under the agency’s plan, states would have to use a new online portal to send the Postal Service a list of all voters that should receive mail ballots. The Postal Service would refuse to send ballots to anyone not on the list. The envelopes would have to meet new design standards, including unique barcodes that have to be checked by the Postal Service. The plan has caused confusion among election officials unsure if they need to comply with it, or when the portal will be available.
Read more about the executive order and mail voting from Votebeat national reporter Dion Nissenbaum for free, no paywall: https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/09/01/usps-election-mail-ballots-plan-whistleblower-richard-blumenthal/
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u/pokebown 5h ago
And even more importantly, the system currently rejects the whole batch of 10K ballots if it fails to scan one of them. It means 10K people won’t receive their ballots in case of failure which is naturally very possible and even more possible if someone would want to have as many failure as possible on purpose.
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u/Keikobad 6h ago
Feature, not bug
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u/pokebown 5h ago
Right? Just hilarious how obvious it is that trump admin wants to cheat these elections
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u/tinman91320 6h ago
We’ve had an electoral system that’s worked for over 250 years without a glitch yet here we are
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u/NoSwimmers45 4h ago
Not to mention that MAGA/GOP claim fraud via mail in ballot when Trump votes by mail in ballot!
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u/Alcubire 6h ago
It's good they're coming out about this, but disenfranchising the voter is pretty obviously the point
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u/TheHomersapien Colorado 5h ago
This is a great time for all of us to pause and consider the fact that orange rapist moron's 1st term post master general openly attempted to defraud our elections by discarding new/perfectly usable sorting equipment before the 2020 presidential election and Biden and Democrats did nothing after they got into the White House.
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Republicans are counting on this to happen again.
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u/Redshirt_Welshy_Nooo 5h ago
... rushed mail ballot systems
couldare intended to disenfranchise voters
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u/freexanarchy 4h ago
Just like in 2020 when they dismantled, and threw away in dumpsters, the multimillion dollar sorting machines that saved them a ton of time in handling mail in ballots. Ballots that would have been on time came in late, still had proper timestamps to count. But of course Trump sued to say they can’t come in late (while making sure as many came in late as possible). Wasn’t it in Pennsylvania that the Supreme Court said you could take them up to a certain number of days, but after that, despite having a pre election post mark, they can be thrown out due to post office delays, not the voters timeliness.
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u/TheJan1tor 3h ago
No Shit. If you're not in
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- SouthCarolina
- SouthDakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Wyoming
and you or someone you know relies on mail-in voting, you (they) need to make plans for voting in person, because you can't trust the postal service to deliver your mail-in ballot to you. And if you DO receive a mail-in ballot, make sure you submit your ballot to a clerk (NOT a drop box) and request your ballot be postmarked. If you do not, there's a good chance your ballot will not be counted, as we've seen in other states' elections this year.
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