Election Officials Warn USPS Mail Ballot Rules Could Disrupt 5.1 Million Washington Votes Before Midterms
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Sep 4
Election Officials Warn USPS Mail Ballot Rules Could Disrupt 5.1 Million Washington Votes Before Midterms
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Sep 4
Summary
State and local election officials say the Postal Service’s new mail-ballot requirements are effectively impossible to implement before November, with some ballots already mailed and several states set to begin sending them in mid-September.
The Aug. 21 rule requires voter-specific barcodes on ballot envelopes, voter data uploads to a federal portal and postal verification before ballots are accepted; noncompliant mailings would be returned to election offices.
Court filings describe steep operational burdens: New York estimated 20,000 extra staff hours for portal work, Wisconsin said 2,500 workers would need training before its Sept. 17 mailing deadline, and California said USPS scanning assumptions imply 43 years of work.
States also warned of immediate costs and supply constraints. Washington said reprinting envelopes for 5.1 million voters would cost $1.9 million, Hawaii said it would scrap $79,000 in envelopes, and Oregon cited paper shortages.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked key parts of the rule in a lawsuit by 24 states and D.C., while the Trump administration is seeking to lift that pause; a whistleblower separately told Congress the new ballot portal is untested and rushed.