Trump’s Executive Order Could Jeopardize ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Future Mail Ballots

NPR — The state of Washington has been allowing election officials to count mail ballots that don’t make it to their office until after Election Day for more than a hundred years now. It’s a practice that could be prohibited in upcoming elections, thanks to a sweeping executive order signed by President Trump last month.

 

Whether the order stands, though, is an open question. So far, there’s been a slew of lawsuits filed against the current administration in response to this election order — including one recently filed by 19 states.

 

Ultimately, Barbara Smith Warner said she thinks Trump will not be allowed to tell states they can’t count mail ballots after Election Day.

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Rep. Hoyle Introduces Vote at Home Act to Improve Americans’ Access to the Ballot Box

Rep Hoyle — Representative Val Hoyle introduced the Vote at Home Act to provide a new path forward on voting that makes elections more accessible, more secure, and more affordable. Senator Ron Wyden also intends to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

 

Conversely, the Vote at Home Act expands vote by mail initiatives which several states, including Oregon, have found successfully increases voter participation. This was also the case nationally in 2020, when despite a global pandemic, the general election had record high turnout as a result of more vote by mail options. Vote by mail also lowers the cost of holding elections. For example, after the state of Oregon adopted vote by mail, the cost of administering an election dropped nearly 30 percent.

 

The Vote at Home Act is endorsed by the National Vote at Home Institute, Stand Up America, End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund, and the Institute for Responsive Government Action.

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White House Wants Mail Ballots to Arrive By Election Day, States Rush to Toe the Line

Bolts — The Kansas legislature in 2017 passed a law to let elections officials count mail ballots that arrived after Election Day, for up to three extra days, so long as the ballots were postmarked before polls closed. Kansas politicos joined other states with such a policy in calling this a “grace period.” Fast forward to this year: politicians nationwide can’t stand grace periods.

 

Beyond their acute concerns over grace-period bans, voting rights advocates are wary of how these changes fit into broader restrictions on voter access. Barbara Smith-Warner, was one of several voting experts who told Bolts that grace periods are one battle in the war to eliminate vote-by-mail altogether.

 

“You can cover it in nice language—We want to count the votes sooner, so they should be received sooner—but it’s a good way to kill two birds with one stone,” she said. “You weaken and decrease voting at home with mail ballots, and you lay the groundwork for going back to the fantasy, 1950s idea of everyone only voting on one day with paper ballots.”

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How will USPS Changes Impact Vote at Home?

National Vote at Home Institute — The United States Postal Service has been the bedrock service of much of American history. It predates the constitution, and has helped our country to establish itself, grow and thrive for more than 200 years. Since the passage by Congress of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, the USPS has functioned independently of the federal government, and is completely self-funding, receiving no tax revenue. The guarantee of universal postal delivery at a single price is a large part of the faith and trust that the American people put in their postal service, and why it has helped voting by mail to thrive since it first began as absentee voting during the Civil War.

 

The threat to take over the USPS and bring it under the management of the Commerce Department puts many services that we take for granted at risk, from delivering vital medication to delivering a ballot. We’ve already seen attacks on the USPS, and removing its independence poses serious questions.

 

The most obvious is the threat of privatizing the USPS, selling off the most profitable routes while putting universal service in peril. Next is the potential politicization of the Postal Service. The current administration demonstrates on a daily basis their enthusiasm for seeking revenge on political opponents. It is not a stretch to envision bans on mailing items they don’t like, or differing postal rates for friends vs. enemies.

Both of those risks combine to threaten the future of Vote at Home, also known as vote by mail or absentee voting. In the 2024 election, a third of all voters used mail ballots to make their voice heard. They Vote at Home because it’s convenient, delivering their ballot directly to them, so they don’t have to worry about child care or work schedules or weather events preventing them from voting. They Vote at Home because it gives them more time to research every race on the ballot and be a more informed voter. And they Vote at Home because their local election administrators trust the USPS to deliver every ballot to every address in their community for the same price; and they trust the USPS to deliver every one of their ballots back to be counted, no matter where they live or who they’re voting for.

 

All of those elements will be at risk with a Postal Service that loses its independence under the control of this administration, and the greatest risk is loss of trust. Confidence in voting is one of the most important elements of a successful democracy – confidence that your vote makes a difference, that your vote counts, and that every vote will be received, counted and treated equally.