According to the text posted online Friday, the USPS is ready to implement the new restrictions on mail-in voting if the court injunctions are lifted.
“If the government obtains timely relief from the injunctions, implementation immediately thereafter will provide election officials as much time as possible before the next election to comply with the rule’s preparation standards for Federal Ballot Mail envelopes, and to prepare to submit data to the Federal Ballot Mail Portal (‘Portal’), before the mail-in and absentee ballots subject to this rule are mailed (which generally occurs in September or thereafter, as determined by state law),” the rule reads. “The Portal will become active (along with the verification process that relies on Portal data) at the time of the publication of the system of records (‘SOR’) governing the Portal.”
Nearly one in three Americans voted by mail in 2024, but Trump, who wants to restrict the number of voters by limiting ballots cast by mail, signed an executive order in March that prohibits the USPS from delivering ballots to any voters not on a federal list of citizens deemed eligible to vote in each state by the Department of Homeland Security.
It’s the only way I’ve voted for years. It’s so nice to get my ballot and be able to take the time over a cup of coffee at home to research every candidate and proposition so that I’m making an informed decision.
The alternative is to give the ability to kneecap populated blue districts so that lines are 6+ hours long, dissuading people in those blue areas from voting. A real democracy requires voting to be easy, quick, and free, without prejudice. Voting by mail is the simplest and best solution for most people.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been nosey enough to ask other people how they vote, so you might be very surprised by how many people you know are voting by mail. Unless you’re in a state that makes it complicated for no reason, it just doesn’t make sense to waste so much time and energy on driving somewhere and standing in line and then feeling rushed in the booth or else risk a mistake that invalidates your ballot. Here in Virginia, I think it was just a one time application to receive my ballots by mail and I didn’t need to cite any reason to qualify for it. It’s just an objectively better process. You should look into how to do it in your state and try it for yourself. And if it’s not easily available, you should be asking yourself why anybody would want to make it harder to participate in their democratic process. Forcing it to be an in person only option restricts it to people with enough time and money to be able to get to their polling place and spend significant time on what for others is likely a work/school day. It’s targeted voter suppression.
It’s simple for me voting in person. But half the things I vote for I have no idea. So doing research while voting is a good idea.