Home · Politics · Sep 1 archive
Whistleblower says USPS system Trump ordered for mail ballots is flawed and untested
Confirmed
The technical system the USPS assembled to vet voters was developed in a “rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process,” according to a whistleblower complaint sent to the office of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental AffairsCommittee.
The whistleblower also said the USPS had ordered workers to continue developing its system, despite court orders blocking implementation of the project. The whistleblower said workers involved in developing the USPS system feared it would crash and described the process just days before the project was originally scheduled to be released to the public Tuesday as a “s--- show,” according to the complaint.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that directed his administration to create federal lists of citizens and asked the Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people. Federal courts have repeatedly blocked the Postal Service from implementing Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots, which called for the creation of a national voter registration list that would be used to decide who is eligible to cast a ballot.
An anonymous federal official has warned members of Congress that Donald Trump’s “secretive, rushed” and “chaotic” plans for the U.S. Postal Service to implement new rules for mail-in ballots could disenfranchise millions of voters this fall.
Trump ordered the agency to take on an unprecedented and complex role in the process this year in amid a broader attempt to exert greater control over the country’s elections and his continued unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
The agency last month finalized the rule for how it would implement the changes, which would create a massive new workload for election officials and put up hurdles for millions of voters to cast ballots by mail. If the plans are allowed to go into effect, USPS workers would be required to scan barcodes on a sample of envelopes to ensure the voters appear on the state’s list, according to the whistleblower report.
The Supreme Court allowed Trump’s executive order to stand, for now, leaving the door open for lawsuits to proceed against the new USPS rules themselves. If there is even one mismatch, that whole batch of ballots — which could be in the thousands at a time — could be rejected, the whistleblower said.
Large batches of ballots would be rejected by the portal if even a single ballot couldn’t be verified, the whistleblower said. A federal judge has blocked the order from going into effect amid ongoing litigation over its constitutionality; the whistleblower complaint highlights potential issues that could arise if the courts ultimately declare it lawful.
What's confirmed
- The technical system the USPS assembled to vet voters was developed in a “rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process,” according to a whistleblower complaint sent to the office of Sen.
- The whistleblower also said the USPS had ordered workers to continue developing its system, despite court orders blocking implementation of the project.
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that directed his administration to create federal lists of citizens and asked the Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people.
- An anonymous federal official has warned members of Congress that Donald Trump’s “secretive, rushed” and “chaotic” plans for the U.S.
- Trump ordered the agency to take on an unprecedented and complex role in the process this year in amid a broader attempt to exert greater control over the country’s elections and his continued unfounded claims of widespr
- The agency last month finalized the rule for how it would implement the changes, which would create a massive new workload for election officials and put up hurdles for millions of voters to cast ballots by mail.
What's still developing
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that directed his administration to create federal lists of citizens and asked the Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people.
- A federal judge has blocked the order from going into effect amid ongoing litigation over its constitutionality; the whistleblower complaint highlights potential issues that could arise if the courts ultimately…
- Trump ordered the agency to take on an unprecedented and complex role in the process this year in amid a broader attempt to exert greater control over the country’s elections and his continued unfounded claims of…
- The technical system the USPS assembled to vet voters was developed in a “rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process,” according to a whistleblower complaint sent to the office of Sen. Richard Blumenthal,…
- “This administration seems hell-bent on changing the framework of casting ballots in this country, clearly for political reasons,” Blumenthal said on a call with reporters Monday.
- The whistleblower is identified as an anonymous federal official who is being represented by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit group that represents public- and private-sector employees making such complaints.
- The agency last month finalized the rule for how it would implement the changes, which would create a massive new workload for election officials and put up hurdles for millions of voters to cast ballots by mail.
- Large batches of ballots would be rejected by the portal if even a single ballot couldn’t be verified, the whistleblower said.