USPS whistleblower warns new mail-ballot system risks disrupting midterm voting

An anonymous federal official has told Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal that the US Postal Service (USPS) is pressing ahead with a new mail-ballot verification system, originally due to launch Tuesday, despite court orders blocking parts of President Donald Trump's push for tighter federal oversight of mail voting. Represented by the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, the official described the project as "secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed," warning that inadequate testing could cause a "catastrophic failure."

How the system would work

Under the plan, state election authorities would upload lists of mail voters and identifying barcodes to a federal portal, and postal workers would check sampled barcodes from large ballot batches against that data before sending them. The whistleblower alleges USPS adopted a "zero-percent failure policy," meaning an entire batch could be rejected over a single mismatched or unreadable barcode — potentially holding up 9,999 valid ballots in a 10,000-ballot batch until the issue is resolved.

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USPS told AFP it is reviewing the allegations but denies violating court orders, stating that no mandatory verification is currently in use and that the portal will initially be offered to election officials only on a voluntary basis. Blumenthal, the senior Democrat on a Senate investigations panel, called on Postmaster General David Steiner to scrap the plan, arguing it risks disenfranchising voters given that roughly a third of Americans vote by mail.

Trump signed an executive order in March seeking stricter controls on mail voting, which he has repeatedly claimed — without evidence — is prone to widespread fraud. Last week, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked key elements of the plan, ruling USPS likely lacks authority to determine who may receive a mail ballot; the administration is appealing. The judge did allow continued work on the portal for states opting to use it voluntarily. The dispute comes as the first states begin mailing ballots this week, leaving election officials little time to adapt should courts later permit Trump's rules to proceed.