Whistleblower: USPS Plan for Trump's Mail Voting Order Could Derail Midterms

A newly released whistleblower disclosure warns that the U.S. Postal Service could derail the midterm election by rushing untested technology into service as part of President Trump's push to restrict mail-in voting. Mail voting for the midterms is set to officially begin this week, and key parts of the USPS plan for carrying out the president's directives remain blocked for now by a court order.

The disclosure, filed with USPS by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, claims agency leadership has discarded best practices in a rush to launch a new online system by September 1.

An Untested Portal Rushed Into Service

For months, the Postal Service has been preparing to launch an online portal that would let state election officials submit absentee voters' names and the ballot envelope barcodes required under the now-blocked rule. The whistleblower, an anonymous federal official with direct knowledge of the system's development, says testing of that portal has been insufficient.

"USPS leadership, it appears, has discarded all best practices as they speed the project to be ready for a September 1 implementation -- raising questions about whether catastrophic failure would be a feature rather than a bug," the disclosure states. It was prepared by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that represents the official.

If courts allow the USPS plan to proceed, problems with the portal could leave eligible absentee voters without their mail-in ballots in time, or at all. A central concern is an unusual "zero-percent failure policy" the agency set for verifying that ballots states want to send out meet the requirements of the new rule.

"As designed, the process is entirely unforgiving. It could delay ballots by the thousands in repeated verification cycles -- and thus prevent states from mailing enormous numbers of ballots," the disclosure warned.

Legal Fight Over the Order Intensifies

Last week, a federal judge in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against USPS after finding that its plan for Trump's order is likely illegal because the mailing agency has no authority to control voting by mail. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up what will likely be another battle at the Supreme Court, which has not yet weighed in on the legality of the president's directives.

More lower court rulings could be on the way as election officials and mail-in voters sort through the uncertainty created by the ongoing fight. Blumenthal, who called the disclosure "mind-boggling," urged Postmaster General David Steiner in a letter to abandon what he called an "ill-conceived, unconscionable plan."

"What the disclosure reveals is that the Postal Service has designed a system that is intended to fail," the senator said on a call with reporters. USPS spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about the whistleblower claims.

Election Integrity Push Defended

The president, who has voted by mail himself, has defended his directives for USPS and other federal agencies as a way to curb illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens, which many studies and audits show is extremely rare. Supporters of the order argue that tightening ballot verification safeguards the integrity of American elections and restores public confidence in the vote.

The push reflects a broader administration effort to tighten election security rules ahead of the midterms, even as critics warn that new requirements could create logistical bottlenecks for the millions of Americans who vote by mail. The Postal Service has not commented publicly on the whistleblower report.

What Happens Next

The 1st Circuit's handling of the appeal will be the next major test, and a trip to the Supreme Court is widely expected regardless of how the intermediate court rules. In the meantime, state election officials face a difficult stretch: the clock is ticking toward the first mail-ballot deadlines, and the legal status of the verification requirements remains in flux.

For voters, the practical question is simple: will the systems that process their ballots work smoothly when it counts? The whistleblower's warning ensures that question now has a public answer -- and that the Postal Service's readiness will be watched closely from Washington to the states as the midterm season opens.