Trump's Attacks On Mail Balloting And Concerns Over Delays Turn Midterms Spotlight On Postal Service

Roughly six weeks earlier nan first midterm ballots are mailed out, nan U.S. Postal Service is emerging arsenic a pivotal subordinate successful an predetermination play that will find power of Congress.

President Trump is seeking greater power complete message balloting done an executive bid while a alteration to really nan agency processes message is starring to disapproval that it’s failing to present ballots connected time.

Democratic officials person raised concerns complete nan past week astir really quickly nan Postal Service will process ballots aft tens of thousands of them successful California and hundreds successful Wisconsin arrived astatine section predetermination offices excessively precocious to beryllium counted successful elections earlier this year. The apical predetermination offices successful Kansas and Michigan are urging voters who want to formed their ballots early to debar nan message and alternatively driblet them disconnected successful person.

The Postal Service replied to those concerns by saying it remains “committed to fulfilling our domiciled successful nan electoral process.”

“We supply a secure, efficient, and effective measurement for citizens to participate erstwhile policymakers determine to usage message arsenic portion of their elections,” it said successful a connection Tuesday.

Trump’s bid puts much attraction connected message ballots

The Postal Service faced akin questions astir message transportation successful 2024, but nan scrutiny this twelvemonth is heightened because of an executive bid Trump issued successful March that seeks to create a nationalist elector database to guideline nan Postal Service successful deciding who gets a message ballot.

The bid has sparked aggregate lawsuits and national tribunal orders, starring to a lawsuit now earlier nan U.S. Supreme Court successful which nan management is asking nan justices to let it to enforce its restrictions connected message balloting.

Trump has lied for years astir elector fraud to effort to explicate distant his nonaccomplishment to Democrat Joe Biden successful 2020, and message balloting is simply a favourite target, moreover though he has utilized nan method himself. During a caller extremity successful Michigan, he falsely characterized message balloting arsenic “inherently corrupt” and added, “Hopefully location will beryllium nary mail-in ballots.”

A 2025 study from nan investigation group Brookings identified astir 4 cases of fraud for each 10 cardinal message ballots cast.

Despite Trump’s attacks, nan method remains celebrated pinch voters of some awesome parties. In 2024, astir 30% of U.S. voters formed their ballots by mail, according to national data. In Michigan, wherever competitory U.S. House and Senate races could thief find nan equilibrium of powerfulness successful Congress, nan authorities said it has sent retired much than 2 cardinal absentee ballots for nan state’s Aug. 4 primary.

“We want to support ballot by mail. We want to protect it. We want to grow it,” said Jonathan Smith, president of nan 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union, which launched a run successful April promoting it and is opposed to turning nan Postal Service into an predetermination administrator. “Why? Because it works.”

Legal battles intensify complete Trump’s order

The Postal Service projected a norm successful June successful statement pinch Trump’s executive bid that would create a nationalist database of eligible voters, based connected databases kept by different national agencies. Only those connected nan database would beryllium eligible to person message ballots.

Democratic officials successful astir 2 twelve states revenge a national suit successful Massachusetts. A national judge location blocked Trump’s bid past month, and an appeals tribunal upheld that ruling, prompting Trump’s entreaty to nan Supreme Court. But nan appeals tribunal for nan District of Columbia refused Tuesday to artifact nan bid successful a abstracted case, calling a ineligible situation premature.

Democratic senators and governors person written to nan Postal Service urging it to wantonness efforts to instrumentality Trump’s order.

“Donald Trump has shown he’ll extremity astatine thing to meddle successful our upcoming elections,” Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin said successful a connection to The Associated Press. “At best, this caller push will exacerbate already terrible delays for mail-in voters and astatine worst, it will extremity eligible Americans from casting their ballots.”

In a missive to Democratic senators earlier this month, nan heads of nan Postal Service said they were abiding by nan tribunal rulings that had halted nan executive order. But Smith, of nan postal workers union, told nan AP connected Tuesday that USPS accusation exertion staffers who are national members are moving connected a planned portal for nan database of eligible voters “behind nan scenes.”

The Postal Service declined to respond to Smith’s statements and said it could not remark astir whether it’s moving guardant pinch activity related to Trump’s bid because of nan litigation.

The postal workers’ national opposes nan scheme for a portal, a nationalist database of eligible voters and utilizing that database to find who tin person a message ballot. Smith said it shouldn’t beryllium postal workers’ work “to determine who tin ballot and who can’t vote.”

A scheme to consolidate message processing centers upsets officials

The Postal Service has been nether financial accent for years and has been consolidating message processing into less location centers. Mail travels an mean of 139 miles to scope 1 and sometimes 500 miles, according to a caller Brookings report.

In January, a group of mostly Democratic senators said it was concerned astir a determination to extremity twice-daily message dispatches from section station offices to location processing centers. The consequence is that message arriving aft nan only regular dispatch would spell retired nan adjacent day.

California officials said nan alteration was a facet successful nan authorities rejecting much than 148,000 ballots from its June primary, pinch 63% of them arriving excessively precocious contempt a seven-day grace period. Officials worried that immoderate ballots were postmarked astatine processing accommodation nan time aft they were dropped disconnected astatine a station office, perchance invalidating them. Wisconsin officials besides said hundreds of ballots from an predetermination successful April arrived late.

The Postal Service said postmarks mostly are being applied pinch automated instrumentality astatine processing centers, “in nan aforesaid mode and to nan aforesaid grade arsenic before.” It said personification who wants to make judge their ballot letter cover gets a timely postmark tin get a free 1 applied by a postal worker.

A study connected nan 2024 predetermination by nan USPS Office of Inspector General said nan Postal Service handled much than 59 cardinal pieces of ballot message from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15 that twelvemonth and that 97.3% arrived connected time.

Some authorities predetermination officials counsel voters to debar nan mail

The Michigan caput of state’s agency is advising voters to hand-deliver ballots to their section clerk’s agency aliases a driblet box.

“We’ve seen these issues complete a number of predetermination cycles now — they’re ever concerning, and that’s why we’ve put retired that guidance,” said Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie.

The Postal Service said its Michigan centers are not seeing processing delays.

In Kansas, concerns astir precocious ballot deliveries successful nan state’s 2024 superior predetermination prompted a quip connected nan societal level X from Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican: “The Pony Express is much businesslike astatine this point.” Asked his position now, spokesperson Whitney Tempel said Schwab still believes “keeping your ballot retired of nan hands of nan national authorities is best.”

Jamie Shew, a Democrat elected to oversee elections successful Douglas County, location to nan main University of Kansas campus, said his agency is trying to alteration voters’ perceptions.

“I deliberation voters are utilized to, you tin driblet it disconnected connected Friday and we’re going to person it by Election Day,” Shew said Tuesday. “That’s conscionable not nan reality.”

California’s authorities fund includes $10 cardinal for societal media campaigns and different efforts to discourage last-minute ballot mailings.

And nan Postal Service said it hasn’t changed its ain longstanding proposal for voters: They should get their ballots successful nan message astatine slightest a week earlier their state’s deadline for receiving them.

Hanna writes for nan Associated Press. AP writers Scott Bauer successful Madison, Wis., Michael R. Blood successful Los Angeles, Michael Casey successful Boston, and Jacqueline GaNun successful Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.