Whistleblower Claims USPS Rushed Mail-In Voting System Despite Court Challenge, Could 'Derail' Midterms

An anonymous whistleblower claimed the US Postal Service (USPS) is ignoring a court ruling by moving forward with efforts to implement President Trump's executive order to tighten requirements for mail-in voting.

The Details: According to the whistleblower, USPS violated court orders by moving forward with a "secretive, rushed" effort to implement technology to comply with Trump's directive, despite it still being challenged in court. The whistleblower claims the new system hasn't been tested enough and risks "catastrophic failure" that could "derail" midterm elections for "potentially millions of American voters," including by delaying or preventing eligible absentee voters from receiving their ballots. The complaint was shared publicly on Tuesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

The New System: In March, Trump signed an executive order ordering the federal government to create state citizenship lists and require USPS to send ballots only to people on those lists. The administration said this helps ensure only American citizens are voting in elections. As part of this order, Straight Arrow News (Center bias) reported that the USPS would require unique barcodes on the outbound and return envelopes for mail ballots. States would be required to submit the names and addresses of voters receiving mail ballots and their unique barcodes to the online "Federal Mail Ballot Portal." The order is currently being challenged in court.

From the Left: Outlets on the left emphasized the whistleblower's claims that the technology could negatively impact the midterms. The New York Times (Lean Left) said "Voting by mail would become much more difficult, if not impossible, for tens of millions of Americans" if USPS is allowed to put "the restrictive rules" in place. ABC News (Lean Left) cited concerns from lawmakers, voter advocates and civil liberties groups who it said "worry the rules could prevent some legitimate, eligible voters from receiving ballots." The outlet said these groups fear "an added bureaucratic layer" which has the potential for "federal meddling." However, ABC briefly noted at the end of its article that "For most voters, nothing is likely to change how they cast ballots by mail in the midterm elections" as the court fight continues.

From the Right: The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) wrote, "Consider the source," and said the complaint comes ahead of "a key deadline" in the Trump administration's legal battle over the order. It noted how quickly Democrats picked up the story and quoted a spokesperson from the Advancing American Freedom organization who said they believed the accusations are "impossible to verify" as the claims are "very general" and "paints only a worse-case scenario." The National Desk (Right) acknowledged that USPS was allowed to work on the system despite the legal challenges, "as long as states were not using it."

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