Whistleblower Warns USPS Mail-Voting Portal Could Fail

A newly disclosed whistleblower report claims USPS is rushing out untested technology for Trump's mail-voting order that could derail the midterms.

NPR reports that a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the Postal Service's system development has disclosed that USPS has been preparing for months to launch an online portal allowing state election officials to submit absentee voters' names and ballot envelope barcodes required by President Trump's mail-voting directives. The disclosure, prepared by the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid and submitted Monday by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, warns that key parts of the USPS plan remain blocked by a court order, yet the agency has still raced toward a September 1 implementation target even though testing has been insufficient. With mail voting for the midterms officially starting this week, the timing raises immediate operational concerns.

According to the disclosure, USPS leadership has 'discarded all best practices' in speeding the project, 'raising questions about whether catastrophic failure would be a feature rather than a bug.' One claimed hurdle is an unusual 'zero-percent failure policy' for verifying that ballots states want to send out meet the new rule's requirements. As the whistleblower describes it, the process is entirely unforgiving and could delay ballots by the thousands in repeated verification cycles, preventing states from mailing enormous numbers of ballots. If courts allow the plan to proceed, problems with the portal could leave eligible absentee voters without their mail-in ballots in time, or at all.

Blumenthal, in a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, urged the agency to 'abandon this ill-conceived, unconscionable plan' and ensure all Americans can vote by mail without interference, saying on a call with reporters that the details were 'mind-boggling' and that the Postal Service had designed 'a system that is intended to fail.' NPR notes that USPS spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about the disclosure. The president, who has voted by mail himself, has defended his directives as a way to curb illegal voting by noncitizens, which many studies and audits show is extremely rare.

Last week, NPR reports, a federal judge in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against USPS after finding its plan for Trump's order is likely illegal because the mailing agency has no authority to control voting by mail. The Trump administration has appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up what will likely be another battle at the Supreme Court, which has not yet weighed in on the legality of Trump's directives. The high court has shown receptiveness to the administration on its emergency docket, though: on Monday it allowed White House ballroom construction to continue while litigation proceeds, with the unsigned 5-4 ruling resting on the preservationist group's lack of standing rather than the project's merits.

More lower court rulings on Trump's order may be on the way as election officials and mail-in voters sort through the uncertainty the ongoing fight has caused. For election administrators, the immediate question is whether the appellate courts keep the USPS portal blocked through the midterms, sparing states from a system a federal official warns could fail catastrophically at the worst possible moment.