This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Colorado and 24 other states have sued the U.S. Postal Service over a rule related to part of President Donald Trump’s executive order that would allow the federal government to determine who states can mail ballots to.
The rule would require states to submit lists of eligible mail voters to the USPS at least 30 days before every federal election and enter voter data such as name and address into a federal portal. The USPS would also approve envelope designs and a barcode to track the ballots. The Postal Service said the state-specific list would provide key information for federal law enforcement by giving them a list of individuals to whom states planned to mail a ballot (and who may potentially use the mail to vote), along with the associated barcode data.
The USPS formally published the rule in the Federal Register on Wednesday. A federal judge originally blocked implementation and said the rule was likely unconstitutional, but later Wednesday reversed course and lifted the injunction, saying she was too quick to block it before Trump’s order was actually implemented.
The filing in Massachusetts claims the rule violates the Constitution and federal statutes many times over, flouts the Privacy Act and federal voting rights laws, and is inconsistent with USPS’s own governing statute.
“Each of these defects would alone establish the Rule’s unlawfulness. Together, they demonstrate USPS’s utter disregard for the law in carrying out the President’s policy preferences,” the lawsuit states.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said states determine the time, place and manner of elections – not the president.
“And Congress has never given the USPS authority to regulate mail ballots. Most Coloradans vote using mail ballots, and I will continue to defend our state’s gold standard election system,” he said.
“This USPS rule is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to exert federal control over elections, cause mischief ahead of the midterm elections, and seize states’ constitutional authority to administer elections,” Weiser said in a written statement.
The USPS said backers of the rule note that even the possibility that elections are taking place in an unsecure manner due to lack of necessary visibility can undermine public confidence in the electoral process, even if no fraud is ultimately discovered.
“The List is not intended to substitute for official election records or state mandated reconciliation procedures. In assessing the List for areas of potential further investigation, it should also be noted that some variation may exist between the List and the (separate) scan data for a variety of reasons” the USPS rule states.
Last spring, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would allow the federal government to determine who states can mail ballots to. It had two main provisions, one dealing with the Postal Service and the other looking at voter eligibility.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued a decision to allow the Trump administration to move forward with rulemaking for the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to determine voter eligibility for mail ballots. The nation’s highest court did not say whether Trump’s executive order is legal.
“What Trump wants to do with his executive order is choose who gets a ballot,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told CPR. “That's what this is all about. We firmly believe it is not up to Donald Trump or the federal government to say who is eligible to vote. The right to vote is a pillar of our democracy.”
The USPS lawsuit said the rule would lead to irreparable harm on states and impose burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters.
Colorado law requires all eligible voters to receive a mail ballot, and mail ballots are overwhelmingly popular. According to the Secretary of State's office, in the 2024 general election, 92% of Colorado voters cast a mail ballot.
