2026-06-10T10:00:07.861Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/postal-service-deliver-mail-in-ballots
- 根据美国邮政总局拟议的规则，各州面临一个选择：向特朗普政府提交选民名单，否则将面临邮寄选票递送服务被中断的风险。
- 该行政令同时要求国土安全部为各州编制公民身份名单，这引发了人们对可能出现选民名册清理的担忧。
- 一些选举官员表示，这项要求是在法院驳回司法部类似的选民数据索取请求后，政府试图获取选民信息的尝试。
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各州选举官员很快将面临一个明确的抉择：向特朗普政府提交选民名单，否则将面临美国邮政局暂停递送邮寄选票的后果。
这一困境源于美国邮政总局新提出的规则，该规则旨在落实特朗普总统今年春季签署的一项打击邮寄投票的行政令。如果法院支持该行政令，联邦政府将在选举中获得前所未有的权力，甚至可能将更多选民数据交到特朗普政府官员手中，而这些官员一直在寻找所谓的选举欺诈证据。
拟议的规则列出了各州通过邮政系统寄送选票必须满足的新条件，包括向美国邮政总局提交所有将收到邮寄选票的选民名单。
截至目前，已有23个由民主党领导的州和哥伦比亚特区提起诉讼，民主党领导人以及无党派选民维权团体也一并起诉，这意味着今年夏天可能会出现多起事关重大的司法裁决。
特朗普政府上个月扫清了最初的法律障碍：华盛顿特区一名负责审理其中一起案件的联邦法官拒绝叫停特朗普的行政令，允许美国邮政局开始实施该指令。
民主党团体正呼吁上诉法院加快对该裁决的审查，他们警告称，如果这项提案不被阻止，全国范围内的选民可能会在今年的中期选举中被剥夺选举权。
缅因州务卿沈娜·贝洛斯是民主党人，该州是在波士顿提起法律诉讼的联盟成员之一。她在接受CNN采访时表示，如果法院判决特朗普政府胜诉，“那么除了各州向联邦政府提交选民名单之外，邮寄投票实际上将被彻底取消。”
2026年3月的这项行政令是特朗普近期为寻求联邦控制选举、限制邮寄投票而采取的多项举措之一。尽管没有证据表明存在大规模的选民欺诈行为，特朗普仍多次将邮寄投票说成是对手用于选举作弊的工具。
在国会山，特朗普支持的《SAVE法案》要求对选民登记实施新的公民身份验证措施，但该法案在参议院陷入停滞。法院也曾驳回本届政府其他试图强行介入选举进程的激进举措——而选举工作在很大程度上是宪法赋予各州的职责。
但如今特朗普的行政令试图赋予美国邮政总局在中期选举中前所未有的角色：不仅要递送选票，还要监督谁有资格获得选票。
“如果邮件件支付了足额邮资，美国邮政局就应该递送，”前美国邮政总局理事会副主席安东·哈贾尔对CNN表示，“拟议中的规则称其并非在监管选举，但实际上它正在这么做。”
白宫在一份声明中表示，“整个特朗普政府将继续合法落实特朗普总统当选时承诺的议程，其中包括保障美国选举的安全与保障。”
“政府仍有信心，这项行政令将在11月选举前得到落实，这也是签署该命令时的初衷，”白宫发言人阿比盖尔·杰克逊说道。
尽管美国邮政总局起草的文本仍将决定哪些选民能被列入提交给该局的名单的权力留给各州，但它规定，如果各州不遵守相关程序，美国邮政局将不会为其递送选票。各州的邮寄投票项目必须满足特朗普行政令中的其他要求，美国邮政局才会为其递送选票，这可能迫使一些司法辖区彻底重新设计其邮寄投票材料。
“这将剥夺合格选民的投票权，仅此而已，”俄勒冈州务卿托比亚斯·里德说道，他是23个起诉该行政令的州的官员之一。
“这不在总统的权限范围内，”里德说，“宪法中说得非常清楚——各州负责管理选举。”
在法律诉讼推进的同时，美国邮政总局工会已经向该局领导层表达了对这项行政令的担忧——以及该指令将让邮件承运人处于决定是否递送某些选票的位置。
“根据我们对草案的解读，如果一个州不遵守规定，不提供相关信息或正确格式的材料，那么美国邮政局将干脆拒绝递送所有这些选票或任何选举邮件，这非常、非常令人担忧，”全国邮政局长协会主席布莱恩·伦弗鲁说道。
特朗普的行政令还指示国土安全部从各个联邦机构提取数据，自行编制各州符合资格选民的公民身份名单，这加剧了人们的担忧，即政府可能会利用这些名单向各州施压，要求其清理选民名册。
各州选举官员已经可以使用国土安全部的移民记录系统来核实选民名册，而该程序此前因将合格选民错误识别为非公民而受到批评。
在提交给法院的文件中，特朗普政府对于国土安全部打算如何落实各州名单的计划含糊其辞，但司法部周一表示，国土安全部正在努力使“公民身份名单信息”可供各州访问。
司法部周一还表示，国土安全部正在就各机构共享数据进行“初步磋商”。本届政府此前曾告诉法院，国土安全部正在探索提交给美国邮政局的各州选民数据是否可用于“帮助监控邮寄和缺席选票的流向，识别可能表明选民欺诈或滥用职权的异常情况，并生成经授权的调查线索”。
国土安全部发言人在给CNN的一份声明中表示，该局正在合法落实特朗普总统的行政令，并致力于“恢复我们选举系统的诚信，确保只有美国公民才能选举美国领导人”。
美国邮政局的计划存在诸多重大疑问，包括本就资金紧张的该局是否有资金和手段在如此短的时间内完成如此激进的举措。
“当他们连既定的工作职责都没有足够资金支撑时，谁能合理指望他们能拓展这项职责？”科罗拉多州县书记员协会执行主任马特·克兰说道，该协会代表了该州负责选举工作的地方官员。“做好他们的本职工作，让我们做好我们的本职工作。”
根据拟议的法规，美国邮政局需要设计并推出一个门户网站，各州可通过该门户提交邮寄选民名单，以及为每位选民提供唯一的条形码。
“真正的问题是，据我所知，这个门户网站目前还不存在，”杰夫·埃林顿说道。他的公司Runbeck选举服务公司受雇于亚利桑那州马里科帕县和其他大型司法辖区，负责印制选票并管理邮寄投票的其他相关事务。
一位熟悉相关对话的消息人士告诉CNN，特朗普政府已经告知美国邮政局，将有资金支持内部实施工作，但具体的资金来源尚不明确。
该消息人士称，在邮政总局内部，新系统对较小的农村社区产生的巨大影响一直是讨论的议题。
除了符合资格的选民名单外，拟议的法规还对选票信封提出了新的标准，包括有助于追踪选票的条形码——所有这些都对预算有限、需要重新设计邮寄选票的小型选举办公室构成了挑战。
在邮寄投票普及的州，如亚利桑那州和科罗拉多州的大县，可能已经在使用符合拟议法规要求的选票信封。为全国选举官员提供服务的非营利组织选举中心的首席项目官塔米·帕特里克表示，这些设计特征长期以来一直是邮寄投票的最佳实践。
“有些司法辖区没有采用这项标准是有实际原因的，”帕特里克说道。她指出，一方面是预算问题，另一方面是州法律阻碍了便于自动追踪的选票信封设计。
各州以及各州内部的司法辖区组织和格式化邮寄投票数据的方式各不相同，这给美国邮政局接收这些名单带来了潜在障碍。
“在各州范围内，地方官员确保其数据能够被各州接收和读取一直是一项挑战，”帕特里克说，“而现在我们要求所有50个州都提供能够与美国邮政局系统兼容的信息。”
特朗普去年曾通过一项行政令试图加强对联邦选举的控制，但该命令在很大程度上被法官驳回，法官们认定他无权单方面修改选举规则，此类权力必须来自国会。针对最新这项行政令，人们也提出了类似的论点。
上个月，美国地区法院法官卡尔·尼科尔斯拒绝叫停特朗普2026年的行政令——并非因为他认为这些指令合法，而是因为他表示，关于政府将如何落实该命令仍存在未解决的问题，因此现在介入还为时过早。
民主党人正敦促华盛顿特区美国巡回上诉法院在今年夏天做出裁决。
“如果该行政令继续生效，数百万美国选民的敏感个人数据将被汇集到不准确且非法的数据库中，美国邮政局将前所未有地干涉各州的邮寄投票项目，”民主党人在周一提交给法院的文件中写道。
司法部在法庭文件中辩称，“没有理由如此仓促地推进日程”。
美国邮政局的提案在尼科尔斯裁决的次日公布，目前正处于公众意见征询期。该提案对特朗普2026年3月的指令设想进行了一些显著修改，缓和了一些对邮寄投票最严格的限制。例如，它给予各州灵活空间，允许其在中期选举临近时继续修改提交给美国邮政局的选民名单。
尽管如此，选举专家仍对美国邮政局收到这些名单后将如何处理感到困惑，并警告称，该流程中的任何失误都可能导致选民无法及时收到选票。
一些选举官员将这项要求视为本届政府通过后门窃取数据的手段，因为司法部已起诉30个州，要求获取敏感的选民数据——尤其是在普遍实行邮寄投票的州，那里几乎所有选民都会被列入此类名单。已有8个法院在相关案件中做出了不利于司法部的裁决。
“我们已经告诉特朗普政府，他们不能获取我们的选民数据，”科罗拉多州杰斐逊县书记员阿曼达·冈萨雷斯说道，她是民主党人，目前正在竞选该州最高选举官员一职。科罗拉多州正在法庭上对抗本届政府的选民名册要求。“这只是换了一种方式获取数据的拙劣伎俩。”
Postal Service won’t deliver mail ballots for states that don’t hand over voter lists, under plan for Trump directive
2026-06-10T10:00:07.861Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/postal-service-deliver-mail-in-ballots
- States face a choice under proposed Postal Service rules: Provide voter lists to the Trump administration or risk losing mail ballot delivery.
- The executive order also directs Homeland Security to build citizenship lists for each state, raising concerns about potential voter roll purges.
- Some election officials say the requirement is an attempt to obtain voter data after courts blocked similar Justice Department demands.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
State election officials could soon face a stark choice: Hand over voter lists to the Trump administration or risk losing Postal Service delivery for mail-in ballots.
That dilemma stems from newly proposed USPS rules that seek to comply with an executive order President Donald Trump signed this spring to crack down on mail-in voting. If courts let the order stand, it would give the federal government an unprecedented role in elections — and could put even more voter data in the hands of Trump officials searching for supposed election fraud.
The proposed rules lay out new conditions that states would have to meet to send ballots through the mail, including giving the agency lists of all voters set to receive mail ballots.
So far, 23 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia are suing, as are Democratic Party leaders and non-partisan voter advocacy groups, setting up a potentially active summer of high-stakes judicial rulings.
The Trump administration cleared an initial legal hurdle last month, when a federal judge in Washington, DC, who is overseeing one set of the cases, declined to block Trump’s executive order, allowing the Postal Service to begin implementing it.
The Democratic Party groups are asking an appeals court to speed up its review of that decision, warning that voters around the country could be disenfranchised in this year’s midterm elections if the proposal is not blocked.
In an interview with CNN, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat whose state is part of the coalition that filed a legal challenge in Boston, said that if courts rule for the Trump administration, “Then you will see a virtual elimination of mail-in voting, unless the states supply voter lists to the federal government.”
The March 2026 executive order is one of several moves Trump has made recently to seek federal control over elections and restrict mail-in voting, which he has repeatedly cast as a tool used by his opponents for election cheating despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
On Capitol Hill, the SAVE Act, a Trump-backed bill requiring new citizenship verification measures to register to vote, has floundered in the Senate. Courts have pushed back on other aggressive attempts by the administration to inject itself in the voting process — a job the Constitution largely gives to the states.
But now Trump’s executive order seeks to give USPS an unprecedented role in the midterm elections: not just delivering ballots but policing who gets one.
“If proper postage is paid on a mail piece, the USPS should deliver it,” former USPS Board of Governors Vice Chair Anton Hajjar told CNN. “The proposed rule says it’s not regulating elections but that’s what, in effect, it’s doing,”
In a statement, the White House said that the “entire Trump Administration will continue lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact – which includes the safety and security of American elections.”
“The Administration remains confident that the Executive Order will be implemented by the November election, which was always the intent when it was signed,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.
While the language the Postal Service drafted still leaves states in charge of deciding which voters end up on the lists submitted to the agency, it tells USPS not to send ballots for states that don’t follow that process. The states’ mail balloting programs must meet other requirements in Trump’s order for USPS to deliver their ballots, potentially forcing some jurisdictions to completely redesign their mail voting materials.
“This would deny eligible people the right to vote. Full stop,” said Tobias Read, secretary of state in Oregon, one of the 23 states suing the administration over the order.
“This is not in the president’s power,” Read said. “It’s absolutely clear in the Constitution – states run elections.”
As the legal fight unfolds, Postal Service unions have communicated their concerns to USPS leadership about the order – and how it puts mail carriers in the position of deciding whether to transmit certain ballots.
“As we read this draft, if a state does not comply with it, if they don’t provide the information or the right format, then the Postal Service is going to simply refuse all of those ballots or whatever election mail it is, and that is very, very concerning,” said Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Trump’s order also instructs the Department of Homeland Security to build its own state-by-state citizenship lists of eligible voters by pulling data from various federal agencies, fueling fears the administration could use the lists to pressure states to purge their voter rolls.
State election officials already have the ability to use a DHS immigrant record system to verify their rolls, and the program has come under fire for falsely identifying eligible voters as non-citizens.
In court filings, the Trump administration has waffled on how DHS intends to carry out the plans for releasing state-by-state lists, but on Monday, the Justice Department said DHS is working on making “citizenship list information” available for states to access.
DHS is also having “preliminary conversations” about the agencies sharing data, DOJ said Monday. The administration previously told the court that DHS was exploring whether the state voter data provided to USPS could be used to help “monitor mail-in and absentee ballot flows, identify anomalies that may suggest voter fraud or misuse, and generate authorized investigative leads.”
A spokesperson for DHS said in a statement to CNN that it was lawfully implementing President Trump’s executive order and that it was committed to “restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.”
There are major questions over the feasibility of the Postal Service’s plan, including whether the already cash-strapped agency has the funding and wherewithal to execute such drastic steps on such a quick timeline.
“When they don’t have the funding to do their declared mission, how’s anybody reasonably expecting that they can expand that mission?” said Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, which represents the local officials who run elections in the state. “Focus on their day job and let us do ours.”
Under the proposed regulations, the Postal Service will need to design and launch a portal through which states could submit a list of their mail voters, along with unique bar codes for each individual.
“The real problem is, to my knowledge, this portal doesn’t exist yet,” said Jeff Ellington, whose company, Runbeck Election Services, has been hired by Maricopa County, Arizona, and other large jurisdictions to print ballots and administer other aspects of mail voting.
The Trump administration has told USPS there is money to support the internal implementation, a person familiar with the conversations told CNN, though the specific stream of funding is unclear.
Within the agency, the outsized impact the new system will have on smaller, rural communities has been a matter of discussion, the person said.
In addition to the lists of eligible voters, the proposed regulations include new standards for ballot envelopes, including barcodes that would help keep track of ballots — all of which pose challenges for smaller election offices with limited budgets to revamp mail-in ballots.
Large counties in states where mail voting is prevalent, such as Arizona and Colorado, are likely to already use ballot envelopes that are designed in accordance with the proposed regulations. Those design features have long been best practices for mail voting, said Tammy Patrick, chief programs officer at Election Center, a non-profit that serves elections officials across the country.
“There are practical reasons why some jurisdictions haven’t adopted this,” said Patrick. She pointed both to budgetary issues as well as state laws that stand in the way of ballot envelope designs that facilitate automated tracking.
How jurisdictions organize and format their mail vote data varies from state to state, and within each state, posing potential obstacles for how USPS will receive those lists.
“Across the states, it’s been a challenge for local officials to make sure their data can be ingested and read by the states,” Patrick said. “And now we are asking all 50 states to have information that can be aligned for the Postal Service.”
Trump tried to assert more control over federal elections in an executive order last year, but that has been largely blocked by judges who concluded he has no unilateral power to alter voting rules, and any such authority must come from Congress. Similar arguments are being made against the latest order.
Last month, US District Court Judge Carl Nichols declined to block Trump’s 2026 executive order – not because he found its directives lawful, but because he said there were unanswered questions about how the government would implement it, so it was too soon for him to intervene.
Democrats are pushing the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals for a ruling this summer.
“If the Order remains in force, millions of American voters’ sensitive personal data will be amassed into inaccurate and unlawful databases and USPS will engage in unprecedented interference with state mail voting programs,” the Democrats wrote in a Monday court filing.
The Justice Department argued in court filings “that there is no justification for such a compressed schedule.”
The USPS proposal, which was rolled out the day after Nichols’ ruling and is open to public comment, included some notable modifications to what Trump’s March 2026 directive envisioned, softening some of the most stringent limitations on mail-in voting. For instance, it gave states flexibility to continue to modify the voter lists that are submitted to USPS as the midterms approach.
Still, election experts are puzzled by what USPS will do with those lists once the agency receives them and warn that any hiccups in that process could lead voters not getting their ballots in time.
Some election officials see the requirement as a backdoor data-grab by the administration as the Justice Department has sued 30 states to obtain sensitive voter data – particularly for universal mail-balloting states where essentially every voter would be on such a list. The eight courts that have ruled in those cases have all ruled against the Justice Department.
“We already told the Trump administration that they couldn’t have our voter data,” said Amanda Gonzalez, who is the clerk of Jefferson County, Colorado, and a Democrat running to be the top election official in the state, which is fighting the administration’s voter roll demand in court. “This is just a poorly disguised ploy to get it another way.”