The U.S. Postal Service cost-cutting efforts put ballots at risk

Actions by the U.S. Postal Service have invalidated hundreds, and potentially thousands, of mail-in ballots nationwide, putting American elections at risk amid a cascade of logistical changes and legal battles, a ProPublica analysis found.

The disruptions stem from cost-cutting measures and new federal mail-voting mandates pushed by the Trump administration, which has signaled its intent to disrupt the midterm elections.

Over the past three years, the Postal Service has advanced a restructuring plan that reduced mail pickup frequencies and consolidated processing centers, delaying mail delivery by a day or more in thousands of rural ZIP codes.

Data from the primaries in Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon showed that rejection rates for late ballots doubled or tripled in areas affected by the service cuts compared to the 2022 midterm primary. In Stevens County, Washington, Auditor Lori Larsen reported that election workers found more than 500 late-arriving ballots in a single mailbox days after the primary, calling the sight jarring.

“The emissions gap is now a leadership gap,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a separate context, but election experts warn that a similar leadership and operational gap now threatens the integrity of mail-in voting nationwide.

Independent researchers, including analysts at the Brookings Institution, project that tens of thousands of mail-in ballots could be rejected during the general election if current patterns hold.

While Postal Service leaders have circulated internal memos outlining extraordinary measures and special procedures to fast-track ballots in the final days before the election, voting rights advocates and election officials warn that execution remains vulnerable to error.

Compounding the logistical strain, a postal whistleblower revealed that the agency has rushed to implement a new, untested IT system and Federal Ballot Mail Portal required under administration directives.

The whistleblower warned that the slapdash software development process and complex barcode requirements could lead to catastrophic wholesale non-delivery or invalidation of mail ballots for millions of Americans, drawing sharp rebukes and ongoing challenges from state attorneys general and civil rights groups.

Federal courts have repeatedly issued temporary restraining orders blocking the administration’s new mail-voting rules, citing the overwhelming risk of citizen disenfranchisement on short timelines.

Meanwhile, postal workers’ unions have joined legal filings urging courts to maintain blocks, warning that forcing compliance with the unprecedented system will grind mail operations to a halt and jeopardize the validity of votes cast across the nation.