Delivery vans are parked during a protest staged as part of a countrywide National Day of Action Tuesday, July 28, 2026, outside the main United States Postal Service headquarters in northeast Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski, File)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-09-01T10:21:58Z<\/p>\n
The U.S. Postal Service is poised to launch a hastily built, error-riddled computer system that could jeopardize the process of mail voting relied upon by one-third of all voters, according to a whistleblower statement released Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.<\/p>\n
The effort is part of the implementation of President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order limiting mail voting<\/a><\/span> and has been temporarily halted<\/a><\/span> by a federal judge. The ruling is being appealed by the administration<\/a><\/span> and the directive may ultimately end up back before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n The disclosure from the unidentified whistleblower contends that the Postal Service has been scrambling to try to build a complex system that would normally take a year or more in only three months, sometimes in defiance of the judge\u2019s orders halting work. The goal is to have it ready for use in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n The disclosure contends that, due to the new procedures, a single scanning error in a batch of tens of thousands of ballot envelopes could prevent any from reaching voters. It details a system that election officials have already warned could not be implemented before the first mail ballots begin going out Friday in North Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans,\u201d Blumenthal told reporters in advance of releasing the whistleblower information. \u201cThis administration seems hell-bent on changing the framework on casting ballots in this country clearly for political reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s executive order, signed in March, directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to develop state citizenship lists and then required the Postal Service to send mail ballots only to voters who are on such a list. Ballot envelopes would have to comply with new Postal Service rules and include bar codes.<\/p>\n The online portal that is the subject of the whistleblower complaint is intended for states to deliver their lists of verified voters to the Postal Service.<\/p>\nExecutive order is subject to furious court action with midterms nearing<\/h2>\n