Will New USPS Rule Impact Your Ballot In November? What To Know After Supreme Court’s Ruling

Aug 25, 2026 09:57 PM - 2 hours ago 1

Topline

The Supreme Court allowed the U.S. Postal Service connected Monday to move guardant pinch a caller norm that would only let the agency to nonstop mail-in ballots to voters whose accusation has been shared pinch the national government—but the norm is still successful flux up of the November midterms amid a 2nd tribunal challenge, and justices didn’t norm connected whether the norm is really legal.

Election workers hole mail-in ballots for tallying astatine the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center connected November 4, 2024, successful City of Industry, California.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The Postal Service finalized a new rule connected Friday based connected President Donald Trump’s March executive order targeting mail-in voting, which requires the USPS to only message ballots erstwhile states comply pinch caller national reporting requirements.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday to region a tribunal bid that blocked the norm from taking effect, however, siding pinch the Trump administration’s statement that the ineligible situation against the norm was brought excessively early.

The rule requires authorities and section predetermination officials to taxable voters’ names and addresses to USPS done a caller portal, and only voters whose accusation is submitted will beryllium allowed to person mail-in ballots, which will beryllium sent successful envelopes pinch typical national barcodes.

The norm doesn’t require voters to return immoderate further actions, but voting authorities advocates person opposed the argumentation and sued complete it successful court, alleging it could disenfranchise voters by adding further steps and administrative hurdles for them to ballot by mail.

USPS’s norm hadn’t yet taken effect because little courts person blocked it, and the agency said successful its last norm that it would only return effect for the November midterms if the courts let it.

While the Supreme Court has now weighed successful connected the case, the norm is still not yet successful effect, because a abstracted little tribunal ruling besides blocked the caller argumentation and has not yet been lifted.

What to Watch for

The Supreme Court did not norm Monday connected whether the caller USPS norm is really legal, and the litigation complete its legality will move guardant successful little tribunal sloppy of whether aliases not the norm is allowed to return effect for the midterms successful the meantime. The Trump management has asked the judge overseeing the different lawsuit against the USPS norm to either assistance her erstwhile bid blocking the rule, aliases astatine slightest region it while the authorities appeals it. It has asked the judge to norm by 5:30 p.m. EDT connected Tuesday. Judge Indira Talwani antecedently blocked the bid from taking effect successful August, and aft USPS finalized the norm connected Friday anyway, the voting authorities advocates who brought the suit asked her to rumor an “emergency” ruling that enforces her erstwhile bid and suggests the Trump management violated it by finalizing the rule. Talwani has not yet ruled connected that request, but criticized USPS finalizing the norm successful an bid Sunday, arguing the authorities published the last regulations while “ignoring the disorder that the publication will engender.” The judge besides criticized the Trump management for publishing the last norm “on a Friday evening aft the courts were closed.”

Chief Critic

The Supreme Court’s 3 wide justices—Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented against their colleagues’ determination Monday to fto the USPS norm return effect. Sotomayor based on she didn’t deliberation it was excessively early to bring the ineligible challenge, penning a dissent that Kagan besides signed connected to, while Jackson based on the court’s ruling “needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections” by allowing the norm now earlier deciding if it’s really legal. “States administering elections and the voting nationalist that relies connected them to do truthful merit clarity, not caginess aliases confusion,” Jackson wrote, criticizing the majority’s “lack of situational awareness” by allowing the norm truthful adjacent to the midterms. “Taking its oculus disconnected the ball, the mostly misses the Government’s existent objective: to unafraid our [approval] for its effort to foment chaos up of the November elections.”

What Does The New Rule Say?

The rule requires states to taxable lists of their voters requesting mail-in ballots to USPS up of an election, and imposes caller policies to guarantee only those voters whose accusation has been sent to USPS tin person ballots done the mail. It besides mandates the creation of caller letter cover designs and barcodes, which will make clear that ballots person been cleared done the national system. It does not person immoderate effect connected which voters are eligible to ballot by mail, which will still beryllium wished by states. The USPS has said it will only process the accusation it receives from predetermination officials, and will not return immoderate steps itself to verify whether the voters submitted are eligible to vote. The norm requires predetermination officials to supply the national authorities pinch a voter’s name, address, authorities and the barcodes that will beryllium associated pinch their ballot. That accusation will beryllium retained by the national government, which will yet nonstop a database to authorities predetermination officials of each azygous elector sanction and reside USPS received successful that state. If postal workers find immoderate ballots that haven’t complied pinch the national requirements, they will beryllium mailed backmost to predetermination officials and will not beryllium delivered.

What Do Voters Have To Know?

Voters will not person to do thing otherwise if the caller USPS norm takes effect: ballots will still beryllium requested and sent retired by authorities and section predetermination officials arsenic they person been successful the past, and the last norm specifies that states will still govern which voters successful the authorities are eligible to ballot by mail. The caller strategy of registering elector accusation pinch USPS has the imaginable to origin administrative issues and delays, however, truthful voters should beryllium alert of the norm if it takes effect. (USPS has argued the norm “does not—nor is it intended to—facilitate immoderate shape of elector suppression, impact predetermination outcomes, aliases target peculiar demographics, districts, aliases states.”)

Register for message ballots early: The USPS norm requires predetermination officials to taxable voters’ accusation to the national government’s caller portal by astatine slightest 30 days earlier Election Day, aliases by the day that mail-in ballots commencement to beryllium sent out. That doesn’t mean each voters’ accusation has to beryllium supplied by that date, however, arsenic predetermination officials tin support submitting voters to the national strategy until the past time mail-in ballots tin beryllium sent out. Given that it’s unclear really agelong processing accusation done the caller strategy could take, however, voters whitethorn want to petition a message ballot early to make judge there’s capable clip to person their accusation cleared.

Some groups are much astatine risk: In tribunal filings opposing the USPS rule, voting authorities advocates person based on groups that are peculiarly reliant connected mail-in ballots, for illustration elder citizens and the disabled, could beryllium astatine enhanced consequence of disenfranchisement nether the caller system, fixed the imaginable for administrative issues. USPS and the Trump management person said postal officials will not return immoderate steps to verify voters’ eligibility, but immoderate voting authorities advocates person besides expressed fears that group who whitethorn not beryllium decently registered successful authorities databases arsenic being citizens—such arsenic group who were only precocious granted citizenship—could besides look issues. In a filing to the Supreme Court, predetermination officials besides cautioned the caller processes astir creating barcodes could beryllium peculiarly difficult successful agrarian communities pinch less resources.

Exemptions: The ballot reporting requirements do not use to U.S. subject and overseas voters who message successful ballots from extracurricular the U.S., and besides only use to wide elections, not superior elections.

What We Don’t Know

If immoderate states will diminution to participate successful the caller system, should it return effect. While nary states aliases localities person yet suggested they’ll do so, that would mean voters successful those areas would not beryllium capable to taxable immoderate ballots done the USPS, and would alternatively person to trust connected different voting methods, for illustration in-person voting and ballot driblet boxes.

Key Background

Trump’s executive bid directing the USPS to restrict mailing ballots comes arsenic the president has agelong attacked mail-in voting, falsely claiming it’s much susceptible to fraud—despite regularly voting by message himself. The contention complete the USPS norm besides comes aft the Postal Service became a root of contention successful the 2020 election, arsenic erstwhile Postmaster General Louis DeJoy implemented wide criticized changes that resulted successful message delays. That sparked accusations that DeJoy, a Trump ally, was intentionally trying to stymie mail-in voting, which he and the USPS powerfully denied. DeJoy’s changes were yet reversed successful consequence to tribunal challenges, and USPS took additional “extraordinary measures” up of the predetermination to guarantee ballots would get connected time. DeJoy has since been replaced arsenic postmaster wide by David Steiner, a erstwhile FedEx committee personnel who was reportedly installed astatine Trump’s urging. Steiner has said he will travel Trump’s directives connected mail-in voting, but would defer to the courts regarding ineligible challenges.