According to recent testimony by Postmaster General David Steiner, the U.S. Postal Service could stop processing mail-in ballots for states that refuse to comply with President Donald Trump’s election integrity order requiring states to provide voter information to the federal government.
According to President Trump’s election integrity proposal, states would need to provide to the Postal Service the names, addresses and ballot barcode numbers for individuals to receive a mail-in ballot.
This would ensure that only citizens receive ballots and that ballots are not illegally duplicated.
We urge CHQ readers to go to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/02/2026-10968/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections to post a comment in favor of the proposed rule.
Appearing before the Senate, Steiner defended the administration’s proposed policy after being questioned by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) about whether absentee ballots would continue to be delivered to states that decline to turn over their absentee voter lists.
“If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” Peters asked.
“Under our proposed regulation, no,” Steiner responded. “We would tell the state that we need the manifest.”
The proposal stems from President Trump’s executive order titled “Ensuring Citizen Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” which directs federal agencies to coordinate efforts to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens receive mail-in ballots, reported our friends at Big League Politics.
This tells you everything you need to know about why this rule is necessary: Blue states and left-wing voting rights organizations have already filed lawsuits challenging the policy, arguing the federal government lacks the authority to impose the new requirements. A federal judge recently allowed one of those legal challenges to move forward while the courts consider the merits of the case.
"It really is trying to help the state make sure that the ballots that they send to the voters actually get there and get to those voters, and so it's strictly a manifest for us to make sure that the right ballots are going to the right people," said Steiner, an attorney who previously served as the CEO of Waste Management.
However, Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-MI, defended the practice of mailing ballots to non-citizens saying, "The U.S. Postal Service is now part of this bigger story of this president desperate to federalize our elections. He has tried every which way to say that if he and his party don't win in these November elections, they were rigged."
The comment period for that proposed rule is open for the next week.
We urge CHQ readers and friends to go to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/02/2026-10968/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections to post a comment in favor of the proposed rule.
PS: We urge all CHQ readers and friends to share this important information widely. Forward this message to your family, friends, neighbors, church and civic club mailing lists and encourage them to go to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/02/2026-10968/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections to post a comment in favor of the proposed rule.
