Rule would require states to provide federal government with information on voters in return for delivering ballots
The US Postal Service prepared to publish a final rule late on Friday to impose new requirements on states to provide the federal government with information on voters before the November midterm congressional elections, despite a pair of court orders that currently block the changes from taking effect.
The USPS acknowledged in the text of the final rule posted online Friday, which is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week, that two injunctions issued by federal courts in California and Massachusetts currently bar it from moving ahead with the changes to comply with a March executive order signed by Donald Trump.
In accordance with the order, the postal service would require states to give the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies access to lists of voters and to adopt new balloting procedures before the mail agency would make deliveries. If states did not comply, the USPS would refuse to deliver the ballots.
For you, this may work, but there’s two problems.
A - the majority of people will be unaware of this development until voting day rolls around and they’re like “where’s my ballot?” if they register the problem at all. For some, the ballot arriving in the mail is the only reminder they have that there’s a vote happening.
B - people work. People have no transportation. People have no physical capacity to stand in line. And with A happening there’s a good chance they won’t have time to arrange for anything if they even have anyone in their lives to help them with it.