DELAWARE - Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and a coalition of 25 states have sued the U.S. Postal Service, challenging a new rule they say unlawfully interferes with states’ authority to administer vote-by-mail elections.
The lawsuit challenges a USPS rule announced on August 21 that seeks to implement President Trump’s March 31 executive order concerning mail-in voting.
The coalition argues that the rule gives USPS authority it does not have and could prevent states from effectively administering their vote-by-mail programs, putting eligible voters at risk of disenfranchisement.
Under the new rule, states would be required to provide USPS with information on every voter eligible to vote by mail. USPS would then compile state-specific lists of those voters and use the lists to determine which voters receive mail ballots.
The rule also establishes new design requirements for mail-in-ballot envelopes. States would have to ensure their envelopes comply with USPS standards and receive USPS approval. Under the rule, USPS would not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on its lists or ballots sent in envelopes that do not meet the new requirements.
Jennings and the coalition argue that these requirements impose significant and potentially irreparable burdens on states and could prevent eligible voters from receiving and returning their ballots.
The lawsuit argues that the USPS rule violates the Constitution by interfering with states’ authority to administer elections. The coalition also alleges that the rule conflicts with federal laws governing USPS, fails to follow required administrative procedures, violates the Privacy Act, and conflicts with federal voting-rights protections.
The states are asking the court to strike down the rule and issue a temporary restraining order preventing it from taking effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge by Jennings and other states to what they describe as efforts by the Trump administration to expand federal control over elections.
Jennings is also challenging the administration’s effort to obtain unredacted information about people on Delaware’s voter registration rolls. According to the attorney general’s office, courts have so far dismissed 22 of 31 similar lawsuits brought by the administration in other jurisdictions.
"No matter what the Trump Administration says, the law is clear: the USPS does not have the authority to arbitrarily decide whose ballots will be counted and whose will not," Jennings said. "This is a brazen attempt at election interference, and we’re not going to stand for it."
