USPS told the public it received an "astonishing 200,000 comments" and set the rule to take immediate effect to be ready for the 2026 general election, even as courts have already blocked the measure and the matter heads toward the Supreme Court.
USPS filing, effective date, and implementation timing
In a late Friday night posting to the Federal Register, the U.S. Postal Service said it is finalizing new regulations that would give the federal government potentially vast powers to control mail-in ballots. The notice states that USPS "must begin moving forward now in order to ensure the changes are in place by the mid-term elections." The agency added: "To ensure the faithful execution of federal law in connection with federal elections, this rule has an immediate effective date." At the same time, USPS told readers it "will not move to implement them until after the Supreme Court rules."
The March executive order and federal eligibility lists
The rulemaking flows from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March that directed USPS to develop lists of residents "eligible" for mail-in voting — with eligibility standards to be defined at the federal level. The USPS notice defends the rule's purpose, asserting that, "Whether or not voter fraud is common or uncommon, the Postal Service has the legal authority to take the measures in this rule to facilitate enforcement of federal law, reduce the risk of fraud, and help protect the integrity of federal elections."
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Get a security leadLower-court injunctions and the Massachusetts ruling
Court actions have cut across the agency's effort: the notice acknowledges that the USPS rules "have already been struck down by multiple lower courts." Last week, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts — which earlier ruled against the administration’s USPS order in an ongoing lawsuit brought by states and voter groups — issued a second, separate injunction against the rules. Judge Indira Talwani wrote when issuing the second injunction: "The court has already answered and will again resolve the question clearly and affirmatively," and added, "The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections." The White House has appealed those decisions to the Supreme Court.
Public comments, supporters' messages, and critics' objections
According to the federal register notice, USPS received 200,000 public comments in response to the proposed rule but did not provide a breakdown of support versus opposition. The notice says the agency believes the majority of supportive comments argued the rules would help with voters' perception that fraud is a "significant problem," and that phrases like "strengthens confidence" and "reduce uncertainty" appear throughout favorable submissions. The notice also dismisses comments "influenced by partisan political speculation" and "conjecture about the underlying intent" as "speculative and exceed[ing] the scope of this proceeding."
At the same time, the source material reports that "no credible evidence of coordinated mail-in voter fraud is presented" in the record cited, and that "Trump and his allies have been the primary force in American politics spreading the perception that voter fraud by noncitizens, dead people and Democrats is rampant." The notice acknowledges critics who warned two courts had already blocked the rules as unconstitutional and records concerns that the Postal Service "would refuse to accept certain ballots for federal elections that states tender without satisfying the data-entry obligations that the rule would impose."
How states, voters, and voting groups are positioned
- States: The filing and litigation put state-run election rules at the center of the dispute; the posting reiterates that state voting rules remain in effect unless a court orders otherwise.
- Voters: Michael McNulty, senior policy director at the nonprofit Issue One, emphasized continuity for voters: "For the 2026 election, voters can continue to rely on the voting rules established by their state unless and until a court orders otherwise." Voter confidence and clarity are central themes in public responses.
- Voting groups and plaintiff states: States and voter groups that sued to block the order secured multiple lower-court rulings and drew fresh condemnations of the Friday filing — arguing the move will "confuse voters about a state-led voting process" and represents an effort to centralize control of elections.
The Postal Service is finalizing a rule it says it will not implement until after the Supreme Court decides the appeal, yet it has set an immediate effective date to be ready for November 3, 2026. The litigation path is now the hinge: it remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will address both injunctions together or separately ahead of election day.
