A new system put in place by the US Postal Service to comply with a decree from Donald Trump risks seeing millions of Americans deprived of their mail-in ballots before the mid-term elections, a whistleblower warned on Tuesday, September 1.
The reform, implemented “in secret and hastily” according to the whistleblower, also violates a court decision that blocked the decree, says Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who revealed this warning in a letter.
The warning comes from a person “with direct knowledge of potentially catastrophic problems” with the new federal mail-in voting system managed by the United States Postal Service, USPS, according to the Whistleblower Aid association, which protects the anonymity of the whistleblower.
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The letter from Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal is addressed to the head of the USPS, David Steiner, chosen by Donald Trump to occupy this position since 2025, and asks him for explanations before Friday.
A federal list of eligible voters
Concerns are centered around computer systems developed in a “botched and rushed” manner to comply with a March decree from the Republican president, aiming to more strictly regulate postal voting. The decree orders the Immigration and Social Security departments to create a federal list of eligible voters, and the Postal Service to issue mail-in ballots only to people on that list.
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“Potentially, millions of American voters may not receive – on time or at all – their mail-in ballot for the upcoming election,” the whistleblower warns. Questioned by AFP, the USPS assured that it was “carefully examining the concerns” raised by the whistleblower. “Regardless of party or political opinion, we share a common goal: ensuring that Americans can have confidence that their election mail will be processed securely and delivered reliably,” he said.
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In the United States, nearly a third of voters voted by mail in 2024, according to the United States organization. Donald Trump regularly denounces this voting method, and sees it as one of the main reasons for his 2020 defeat against Democrat Joe Biden, whom he never recognized.
His decree signed in March has since been challenged in court by many American states. A federal judge thus suspended the text again on Thursday, three days after a provisional green light from the Supreme Court. The judge found it “practically impossible” for states to comply with the text in time for the midterm elections on November 3, in just over two months.
With AFP
