By Annie Norman, Associate Director, Campaigns
Top Takeaways:
- Last month the Supreme Court blocked the Postal Service from moving forward to implement a Trump executive order that would have restricted mail-in voting and made drastic last minute changes to the way the post office handles election mail
- The Save the Post Office Coalition calls on USPS Board of Governors for immediate action to defend the independence of the post office from White House interference and protect mail-in voting
- Mail-in voting remains a safe, secure, and easy option for those who have access and voters should make a plan to return their mail-in ballot early, particularly in ZIP codes where the post office has slowed delivery since the 2024 election
Under Postmaster General David Steiner, the post office began making changes to the way it handles federal election mail that would have let it refuse to deliver ballots to certain voters. This move was directed by a Trump executive order attacking mail-in voting citing false claims of election security. Thankfully, the courts have blocked this scheme for the 2026 election. The Constitution is clear: states administer elections. The Postal Service’s sole responsibility is to deliver the mail — including our votes.
The Postal Service Board of Governors should never have allowed the rule to move forward in the first place. The governors are the ones in charge of the independent agency and they have the authority to push back. Instead, they chose to go along and let the courts intervene—a dangerous failure of leadership that risked damage to the public trust of the post office and the practice of mail-in voting. The months-long legal back and forth in the lower courts created confusing headlines for voters at a critical time for the post office as it faces financial challenges that are sure to come to the forefront after the election and the swearing in of the 120th Congress.
A few weeks ago, after the Supreme Court blocked the post office from moving forward with Trump’s attacks, the Save the Post Office Coalition organized an internal briefing alongside the American Postal Workers Union, NAACP, and Public Citizen, with special guest and former Vice Chair of the Postal Board of Governors, Anton Hajjar. Our coalition brought together over 60 organizational partners across the country to send a clear message: postal workers are ready to deliver our ballots and voting by mail remains safe, secure, and reliable.
Our partners and advocates have sent over 120,000 letters to the USPS Board of Governors to demand they rescind the Trump rule and stand up for USPS independence and vote by mail. We must expose Trump’s attempts to undermine public confidence in vote by mail and the post office for what they are—a manufactured crisis, a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, and a voter suppression attempt disguised under a false flag of election security.
The postal board’s lack of leadership to preserve the independent agency’s role in delivering the mail comes at the same time as election officials in rural counties begin to express concern about election ballots arriving in time to be counted. We spoke out against Regional Transportation Optimization changes before they went into effect after the 2024 election, but ultimately these cost-cutting measures were implemented right before former Postmaster General DeJoy was ousted by Trump early last year. Still, voting by mail remains a safe, secure, and convenient option for many, especially in rural areas and places without ballot dropboxes. These mail delivery changes make it more important that voters follow the evergreen election season advice to vote early in every ZIP code.
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The Save the Post Office Coalition is made up of over 300 national and state advocacy and labor organizations that continue to fight White House interference with mail-in voting, and attempts to install privatization-minded executives on the postal board. We advocate for a forward-looking and robust public post office that includes expanded services that bring in new sources of revenue like postal banking.