WASHINGTON, D.C. – All Voting is Local submitted its public comment to the U.S Postal Service regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Ballot Mail for Federal Elections. The new rule would allow the USPS to control who can receive and vote by mail ballot. If implemented, eligible American citizens would be blocked from participating in free and democratic elections. Read the full comment below:
MEMORANDUM
FOR: Director, Product Classification
U.S. Postal Service
FROM: All Voting is Local
DATE: June 24, 2026
SUBJECT: Comment for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Ballot Mail for Federal
Elections
The Postal Service is proposing to amend the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), regarding the transmission of mail-in and absentee ballots for federal elections pursuant to its rulemaking authority.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed rulemaking on ballot mail for federal elections. All Voting is Local (“All Voting”) is a 501(c)(3), nonpartisan organization that fights on the ground in eight states to protect our vote. Amidst ongoing threats to our democracy, All Voting advocates for state and local officials to adopt policies and practices that ensure the American people choose their leaders, not the other way around. All Voting writes to provide comments on the proposed Rule on Ballot Mail for Federal Elections.
We are compelled to raise concerns regarding the proposed Rule, which would allow USPS to control who can receive mail ballots and vote by mail. If implemented, eligible American voters will be blocked from participating in our free and democratic elections. The Rule is illegal, impractical, and would create an almost insurmountable burden to implement for the 2026 general election for several reasons:
- The Rule will disenfranchise voters due to technical and administrative errors that are no fault of their own. Developing a system like this, where the USPS decides which ballots should be mailed, even if it were legal, would take time, care, and resources—none of which are present here. Done this way, the Postal Service will block people from voting, denying countless eligible voters access to their mail ballots because of inconsistent and stale data, hastily constructed lists and platforms, human error, and unnecessary oversight, leaving voters with no way to fix issues until it is too late. Millions of Americans vote by mail, and for many, it is the only way that they can cast a ballot.
2. The Rule imposes significant burdens on state and local election administrators that are already overworked, overburdened, and understaffed. These additional burdens could delay ballots and disenfranchise voters. Additionally, this rule could easily set up a two-tiered system requiring elections officials to manage mail ballots differently for federal and state elections. Local elections officials will not be able to consistently and effectively comply with these changes before the November election; mistakes will be inevitable, and voter confusion and frustration will be justified.
3. The Rule forces USPS to assume the role of election administrator, which it is not equipped to perform. The Rule would do away with the many practical benefits of trusting states to administer mail-in voting in federal elections, including local knowledge of populations and distributing responsibility across many local entities focused solely on elections. State and local election officials also have strong practices to ensure data privacy and cybersecurity regarding a voter’s personal information that could be exposed under this rule as written. USPS would be thrust into the role of nationwide election administrator—a function for which it has no funding, expertise or ability, and which would divert already limited resources from its critically important core functions.
4. The Rule violates the Constitution and federal law by compelling USPS to unlawfully usurp the role of the states in administering elections. Though the proposal frames these new rules as the implementation of technical best practices, the rules would effectively grant USPS the enormous power to shut down entire states’ vote-by-mail programs unless the states comply with these burdensome, illegal new requirements. Moreover, the Rule purports to implement Executive Order 14399, a directive that is itself unconstitutional. Under the Constitution, only states and Congress have the power to mandate election rules, and only Congress can regulate the postal service. The President may not mandate USPS rulemaking to rewrite the rules for mail voting.
5. The Rule violates USPS’s own mandates. USPS’s duty is to receive, transmit, and deliver the mail to everyone in the United States, unless a law passed by Congress says otherwise. This Rule would allow USPS to violate that important duty by deciding not to deliver ballots to certain voters. Moreover, the Rule does not comply with the procedural requirements that USPS must follow to make changes to nationwide service.
Summary
At All Voting, we know that over 12 million Americans, including about 200,000 military and overseas Americans, voted by mail in the eight states in which we work alone during the 2024 Presidential Election. In most of those eight states, mail ballots account for at least a third of the total votes. The proposed Rule on mail ballots is a direct response to Executive Order 14399, which is itself unconstitutional and aims to limit access to voting by mail for millions of Americans. It is yet another anti-voter effort by those who want to interfere in our free and democratic elections and keep people from voting.
We have several legal, procedural, and technical concerns regarding the proposed Rule, as outlined above. Further, this proposed Rule conflicts with federal law, the U.S. Constitution, and USPS’s own mandates. Only Congress and the states — not USPS acting at the President’s whim — have the power to set election rules and requirements that make major changes to nation-wide vote-by-mail systems like this Rule proposes.
There is nothing more fundamental to our democracy than voting, and Executive Order 14399 attacks our Constitutional right to cast a ballot by attempting to seize control of our elections and undermine the authority of Congress and state governments. This blatant overreach threatens the ability of people to make their voices heard using a method of voting that is safe and accessible—especially for Black and Brown communities, young people, voters with disabilities, and other historically excluded voters. If this power grab succeeds, it opens the door for the administration to manipulate elections for political gain. Protecting the sanctity of our elections in 2026, 2028, and beyond means resisting these dangerous attempts to consolidate power.
We urge the Postal Service to defend the independence of our election systems and its own independence by refraining from implementing any of the President’s unlawful commands.
Sincerely,
All Voting is Local