Democratic governors press US Postal Service to drop ballot rule tied to Trump order

Nine Democratic governors are pressing the U.S. Postal Service to withdraw a proposed rule they say could interfere with mail voting and exceed federal authority.

Led by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the governors sent a letter asking USPS to scrap the proposal, which would implement part of President Donald Trump’s March executive order on mail ballots. The rule was filed in late May, after the White House directed federal agencies to help build state-specific citizenship lists and tie ballot delivery to those lists.

The governors said the plan could make it harder for states to send ballots through the mail and could create confusion for voters ahead of federal elections. They argued the agency should not be turned into a tool for enforcing election rules that belong to states and Congress.

What the governors are challenging

The letter was signed by Pritzker and the governors of California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. They said the proposal could undermine trust in election administration and potentially disenfranchise eligible voters.

Their concern centers on how the rule could work in practice. Under Trump’s order, federal agencies were directed to create state-specific citizenship lists, and ballot delivery could be tied to whether states provide voter information. The governors warned that states could end up caught in a federal-state dispute over election administration, with voters paying the price.

The public comment period on the proposed USPS rule closed on July 2, one day before the Associated Press reported the governors’ letter on July 3. That means the agency is now at the stage where it can decide whether to move ahead, revise the proposal or abandon it.

Legal and political backdrop

Trump signed the executive order on March 31, setting off a separate legal and policy fight over how mail ballots are handled. USPS then moved ahead with a proposed rule in late May to carry out the order.

That move came even as federal judges blocked key parts of the order in related cases. Those rulings said the president does not have authority to set election rules that belong to states and Congress.

A separate report said Postmaster General David Steiner told senators USPS would not deliver mail-in ballots under the proposed rule if states refused to provide the requested voter information. AP reported that USPS had not immediately responded to requests for comment on the governors’ letter.

The governors’ argument is both practical and constitutional. They say the proposal would complicate voting, weaken confidence in the system and risk blocking ballots from eligible voters. They also contend that the Postal Service should not be used to enforce an election policy that courts have already questioned.

Trump allies, by contrast, say tighter verification is needed to protect election integrity and confirm voter eligibility. That disagreement has made mail voting a recurring flashpoint in the broader fight over election administration.

What happens next

The immediate question is whether USPS will withdraw, revise or defend the proposed rule. The agency has not publicly answered the governors’ demand, and the proposal remains entangled in broader litigation over the March executive order.

Further court action is also possible. Appeals or new injunctions could narrow or expand the limits already imposed by judges, while states and voting-rights groups continue to challenge the federal approach.

For now, the governors are asking USPS to abandon the plan before it becomes a larger obstacle to mail voting in future federal elections. The fight sits at the intersection of election administration, postal operations and state authority over voting rules, and those stakes are likely to keep it active beyond this week.