Postal Service Work to Comply with Trump’s Executive Order is Rushed, Sloppy, Whistleblower Warns/ TezzBuzz/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/. A whistleblower alleges the Postal Service is preparing a rushed and error-prone system to implement President Donald Trump’s restrictions on mail voting. The complaint says a single scanning or data error could cause an entire batch containing thousands of ballot envelopes to be rejected. Implementation remains temporarily blocked as the Trump administration appeals and the midterm election’s first mail ballots are about to be distributed.
Quick Look
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal released the unidentified whistleblower’s allegations Tuesday.
- The Postal Service reportedly tried to build in three months a system that would normally require at least a year.
- The federal ballot-mail portal allegedly did not undergo full testing.
- States would use the portal to submit lists of verified voters to the Postal Service.
- Ballot envelopes would need approved designs, unique barcodes and matches in the voter database.
- The complaint describes a “zero percent” rule that could reject an entire batch over one apparent error.
- A federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the new requirements.
- The Trump administration is appealing that ruling.
- North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending mail ballots Friday.
- More than 29% of voters cast ballots by mail in the 2024 election.
Deep Look
Whistleblower alleges serious risks to mail voting
A whistleblower alleges that the U.S. Postal Service is preparing to launch a hastily developed computer system containing errors that could disrupt mail voting during the November midterm elections.
The unidentified whistleblower’s statement was released Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. It focuses on a new online portal being developed as part of the Postal Service’s effort to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail voting.
According to the disclosure, the agency has attempted to build in approximately three months a complicated system that would normally take at least a year to develop. The whistleblower contends that parts of the work continued despite court orders temporarily halting implementation of Trump’s directive.
The system is intended to be ready for an election in which roughly one-third of voters could rely on mailed ballots.
“The Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans,” Blumenthal told reporters. “This administration seems hell-bent on changing the framework on casting ballots in this country clearly for political reasons.”
Trump order imposes new ballot-mail requirements
Trump signed the executive order in March. It directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration commissioner to develop state citizenship lists.
The order also instructed the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters included on those lists. States would have to comply with new standards for ballot envelopes, including barcode requirements.
The online Federal Ballot Mail Portal at the center of the whistleblower allegations is intended to allow states to provide the Postal Service with their lists of verified voters.
Under the Postal Service’s final rule, the agency would handle mail ballots only from states that secured approval for their envelope designs and submitted voter information through the portal.
The White House has described the requirements as “commonsense measures” intended to combat election fraud. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, while the Postal Service did not comment Monday night.
Complaint warns one error could block an entire batch
The whistleblower’s most significant allegation involves what the statement describes as a “zero percent” rule.
Under that procedure, a single apparent error involving one ballot envelope could result in the rejection of an entire batch submitted by an election office—even if the batch contained tens of thousands of otherwise legitimate ballot envelopes.
Election officials would have to bring the ballots to a physical post office, where they would be scanned and checked against the voter database. The whistleblower’s statement says that during three layers of review, one scanning or matching error could prevent the entire group from being processed.
Election administrators have already warned that the system cannot realistically be implemented before voting begins. North Carolina is scheduled to send the first mail ballots of the midterm election Friday.
Portal allegedly lacks complete testing
The whistleblower is represented by Whistleblower Aidwhich said the portal and its supporting information-technology systems were developed too quickly to undergo full testing.
“The apparently sloppy and rushed manner in which the Federal Ballot Mail Portal and supporting IT systems are being built poses significant risk,” the group wrote. “Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all.”
According to Blumenthal’s letter and the whistleblower summary, the Postal Service began working on the portal June 15. Development stopped June 25 following an initial order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston.
The Postal Service allegedly restarted the work July 29, when the administration appealed Talwani’s order to the Supreme Court. The high court did not overturn the injunction until Aug. 24.
The portal was reportedly scheduled to become operational Tuesday.
Rapidly changing court orders create uncertainty
Trump’s mail-voting order has been the subject of an intense legal fight as the midterms approach.
Democratic officials and civil-rights groups sued after the order was issued. Talwani initially barred the government from implementing the system before the November elections.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority later found that her decision had been issued prematurely. The justices did not rule on whether Trump’s executive order was legal, but their procedural decision briefly cleared the way for implementation.
On Aug. 21, the Postal Service published its final rule detailing the new requirements. That action gave the plaintiffs grounds to file another challenge.
Talwani subsequently issued a 14-day restraining order blocking enforcement. The Trump administration has appealed, leaving open the possibility that the dispute could return to the Supreme Court.
Judge found Postal Service violated earlier order
Talwani found last week that the Postal Service had violated her earlier order by continuing its work on the final rule. She did not impose sanctions on the federal government.
In a separate decision Monday, the judge refused to lift the temporary restraining order. She nevertheless allowed the Postal Service to continue developing the portal as long as it did not require states to use the system.
That distinction means technical work may continue even though the agency cannot currently enforce the new ballot-mail requirements.
Trump’s history of opposing mail voting
Trump has opposed mail voting since the 2020 presidential election, despite using the method himself.
He has falsely blamed mailed ballots for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and continued to promote unsupported claims about widespread election fraud. Since returning to office, Trump has also said Republicans should be “taking over” vote counting in Democratic areas and initiated a broad reinvestigation of the 2020 election.
A Brookings Institution report published in 2025 found approximately four cases of mail-voting fraud for every 10 million ballots cast by mail.
Before Trump began criticizing the system in 2020, mail voting was used at broadly similar rates by Democratic and Republican voters. It has since become more common among Democrats.
More than 29% of voters nationwide cast their ballots by mail in 2024.
Blumenthal advises against mail voting if rule takes effect
Blumenthal said he expects the courts to invalidate the new system.
He has “a very strong hope and some faith that our system of justice will strike down this unconstitutional and unconscionable rule.”
However, Blumenthal said that if the requirements are allowed to take effect for the midterm elections, he would not advise voters to cast their ballots by mail.
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