The US Postal Service is rushing to build a computer system to screen mail-in ballots ahead of November's midterm elections, even as courts weigh challenges to the executive order behind it. A whistleblower told Congress the system is so rushed and so lightly tested that one scanning error could turn away whole batches of ballots.
What the new system does
In March, President Donald Trump ordered the Postal Service to create new rules for mail voting. The order requires states to give USPS a list of every voter who is eligible to receive a ballot by mail. USPS then uses those lists to decide which ballots get sent to voters and which get screened. Agency officials were tasked with building the details, including a new portal where states upload voter information and the software running behind it. Voting rights groups say the arrangement lets the federal government control how ballots move through the mail in an election the Constitution leaves to the states.
Whistleblower raises alarms
A whistleblower told Congress that USPS has tried to build in about three months a system that would normally take a year or more. The person said the portal that will hold voter information has operational problems and the system has seen almost no testing. Because agencies usually plan for a known error rate, the lack of planning for mistakes is a worry: a single scanning glitch could delay or reject entire batches of ballots. The whistleblower also said work has sometimes continued even after judges ordered it stopped. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the project 'perilously rushed and potentially unlawful' and said USPS lacks the technical and operational ability to carry it out fairly. Rep. Robert Garcia described the policy as 'an unconstitutional and dangerous power grab.'
Court battles continue
More than two dozen Democratic state attorneys general and voting rights organizations have challenged Trump's order in court. They argue it violates the Constitution's provision that gives states responsibility for running elections. Critics worry the administration wants to control ballot delivery to influence the midterms. Trump says the measures are needed to protect the security of elections. The whistleblower's account has pushed the issue back into public view just as states begin mailing ballots for November, when millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail.