{"id":9243,"date":"2026-04-24T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/how-trumps-order-on-mail-ballots-threatens-postal-service-independence\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:00:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:00:03","slug":"how-trumps-order-on-mail-ballots-threatens-postal-service-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/how-trumps-order-on-mail-ballots-threatens-postal-service-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump\u2019s order on mail ballots threatens Postal Service independence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Election
\n

Election workers sort ballots at the Weld County Elections office in Greeley, Colorado, in June 2024. (Photo by Andrew Fraieli\/Colorado Newsline)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order on mail voting would shatter decades of U.S. Postal Service independence intended to shield it from partisan politics, postal experts and attorneys say.<\/p>\n

Postal experts said Trump ordering the postmaster general to take any action \u2014 let alone on a matter as sensitive as elections \u2014 violates guardrails in federal law against presidential control of the mail. Multiple people with deep knowledge of Postal Service history said they couldn\u2019t recall a similar order in the agency\u2019s modern era.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the president to direct the postmaster general to do anything, including handling these ballots, is contrary to the statutes, contrary to law,\u201d said James Campbell Jr., an attorney in the Washington, D.C., area who consults on postal law.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0order<\/a>,\u00a0signed March 31<\/a>, attracted swift condemnation as an unconstitutional attempt by Trump to control state-run elections. If it stands, the directive would also represent a White House power grab over the Postal Service, which remains a key part of American life and business.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order directs the postmaster general, who acts as the Postal Service\u2019s CEO, to set out rules that would require states to notify the Postal Service if they intend to send ballots through the mail during federal elections. States that want to use the mail would be required to provide lists of mail voters to the Postal Service, which would be prohibited from delivering ballots to individuals not on a list.<\/p>\n

A Board of Governors leads the Postal Service, and holds the power to hire and fire the postmaster general. No more than five of the nine governors may belong to the same political party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While presidents nominate the governors and the Senate confirms them, they serve seven-year terms. The length, in theory, insulates them from political pressure.<\/p>\n

S. David Fineman, a Philadelphia attorney nominated to the Board of Governors by President Bill Clinton who served as its chairman from 2003 to 2005, said he had never heard of the White House or a president directing the postmaster general to take certain actions. He called the executive order highly unusual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe postmaster general serves at the pleasure of the board,\u201d Fineman said.<\/p>\n

The board\u00a0currently has only four members<\/a>, all appointed by President Joe Biden, and five vacancies. Trump has\u00a0sent four nominations<\/a> to the U.S. Senate this year. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has not scheduled confirmation hearings for the nominees.<\/p>\n

Cash-strapped service<\/h4>\n

Trump has expressed interest in having more control over the mail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, he floated the possibility of\u00a0merging the Postal Service\u00a0<\/a>with the Commerce Department, a move that would require approval by Congress. The Washington Post\u00a0reported<\/a> in February 2025 that Trump was expected to try to fire the Board of Governors and take control of the Postal Service.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration takes a dim view of independent agencies. Many allies of the president subscribe to the unitary executive theory, the idea that the U.S. Constitution grants the president full power over the entirety of the executive branch \u2014 meaning Congress cannot constitutionally create agencies that exist outside of White House control.<\/p>\n

Trump has moved to assert authority over a number of independent and quasi-independent agencies since taking office, most notably the Federal Reserve. The Department of Justice is investigating cost overruns on a Federal Reserve construction project, widely seen as\u00a0a pretext to target<\/a> Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate policy has angered Trump.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service is under tremendous financial pressure \u2014 potentially making it more vulnerable to proposals to bring it under White House control. Mail volume peaked in 2006 at 213 billion pieces that year. The Postal Service today handles 109 billion pieces annually.<\/p>\n

The current postmaster general, David Steiner,\u00a0told a U.S. House committee last month<\/a> that the Postal Service will run out of cash within a year without changes to its prices and operations. The Postal Service is generally funded through stamps and other forms of user revenue, not by tax dollars.<\/p>\n

Steiner emphasized the independent nature of the Postal Service throughout his prepared testimony. He has laid out a number of options to improve the Postal Service\u2019s financial stability, including changes to pension funding and raising its borrowing limit from $15 billion, a level that\u2019s remained unchanged since 1992.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to remember that we face these challenges as a self-financed, independent establishment of the Executive Branch,\u201d Steiner wrote.<\/p>\n

Congress approved sweeping legislation in 1970 reorganizing the U.S. Post Office Department into the U.S. Postal Service, an independent corporation. Before that, the postmaster general was a Cabinet-level position nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order marks \u201ca dramatic shift away from the intent of the 1970 legislation to insulate the Postal Service from interference,\u201d Joseph M. Adelman, a history professor at Framingham State University in Massachusetts who has researched mail history, said.<\/p>\n

Election security<\/h4>\n

The White House didn\u2019t directly answer States Newsroom\u2019s questions about Trump\u2019s views on the independence of the Postal Service or the legal justification for the executive order.<\/p>\n

\u201cElection integrity has always been a top priority for President Trump, and the American people sent him back to the White House because they overwhelmingly supported his commonsense election integrity agenda,\u201d White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President will do everything in his power to lawfully defend the safety and security of American elections and to ensure that only American citizens are voting in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson also called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to prove their citizenship when registering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Postal Service didn\u2019t answer questions about how it plans to respond to the order. A USPS spokesperson said only that the Postal Service was reviewing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lawsuits<\/h4>\n

Steiner has indicated he\u2019s awaiting a court decision on how to proceed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a court says that\u2019s not what the law means, we\u2019ll follow that,\u201d Steiner\u00a0told The New York Times<\/a> after the executive order was signed. \u201cAnd so from our perspective, we don\u2019t get involved in policy or law, we just follow the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order on mail ballots faces at least five lawsuits. The Democratic National Committee, top Democrats in Congress and Democratic state officials have all sued. The legal challenges emphasize the Postal Service\u2019s independence in federal law.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit filed by the DNC, top Democratic lawmakers and other Democratic campaign groups,\u00a0asserts the Postal Service<\/a> is structured to operate independently of partisan politics. The complaint calls the Postal Service \u201cindispensable\u201d to voting by mail, noting that it delivered more than 222 million pieces of ballot mail in 2024, including nearly 100 million general election ballots.<\/p>\n

A dozen Republican state attorneys general filed motions in court this week seeking to defend the executive order from the Democratic legal challenges. The motions call the order an example of cooperative federalism to provide states with optional resources to help protect their elections.<\/p>\n

The GOP officials argue the Democrats lack standing to challenge the Postal Service provisions of the order and that their objections are premature because the Postal Service hasn\u2019t finalized any new rules on mail ballots.<\/p>\n

The order \u201csimply directs\u201d the Postal Service \u201cto initiate rulemaking\u2014it does not regulate the States directly and it does not directly inhibit anyone\u2019s voting rights,\u201d\u00a0a court filing<\/a> by the state attorneys general says.<\/p>\n

The states involved in the Republican-led defense of the order include Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas.<\/p>\n

Vote-by-mail\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Mail-in voting surged in 2020\u2019s general election amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when 43% of voters cast their votes by mail. The percentage of voters mailing their ballots has fallen from that peak but remains above pre-pandemic levels. About 30% of voters cast mail ballots in 2024, according to data gathered by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.<\/p>\n

During the 2024 election, 584,463 mail ballots returned by voters were rejected by election officials \u2014 1.2% of returned mail ballots. About 18% of those ballots were rejected because they didn\u2019t arrive on time.<\/p>\n

American Postal Workers Union President Jonathan Smith said in a statement that the Postal Service doesn\u2019t block mailers from sending letters or refuse to deliver letters because of the identity of the sender. Postal workers take extraordinary measures to ensure ballots reach their destinations promptly and securely, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPostal workers take the sanctity of the mail seriously, and every process and policy of the Postal Service ensures that mail is accepted, processed, and delivered, no matter who sent it or where it is going,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, more than 100 U.S. House Democrats\u00a0sent a letter to Trump<\/a> demanding he refrain from future actions that undermine the Postal Service\u2019s independence and calling on him to rescind the executive order. The letter says the order sets \u201ca dangerous precedent for political interference\u201d in postal service operations.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats\u00a0followed up with a letter<\/a> to Steiner and the USPS Board of Governors on Tuesday, urging the Postal Service to not implement the order. The letter, signed by 37 senators, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, calls the Postal Service\u2019s independence a \u201challmark\u201d of its operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Postal Service doesn\u2019t care which politicians you may support,\u201d Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat,\u00a0said on the Senate floor<\/a> last week. \u201cIts only priority is to deliver the mail to every community in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president is now trying to corrupt this mission,\u201d Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees USPS, said. \u201cIf the president is successful in forcing the Postal Service to play a role in running elections, he will completely erode the trust of this storied institution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Election workers sort ballots at the Weld County Elections office in Greeley, Colorado, in June 2024. (Photo by Andrew Fraieli\/Colorado Newsline) President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order on mail voting would shatter decades of U.S. Postal Service independence intended to shield it from partisan politics, postal experts and attorneys say. Postal experts said Trump ordering the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Trump\u2019s order on mail ballots threatens Postal Service independence - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/how-trumps-order-on-mail-ballots-threatens-postal-service-independence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Trump\u2019s order on mail ballots threatens Postal Service independence - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Election workers sort ballots at the Weld County Elections office in Greeley, Colorado, in June 2024. 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(Photo by Andrew Fraieli\/Colorado Newsline) President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order on mail voting would shatter decades of U.S. Postal Service independence intended to shield it from partisan politics, postal experts and attorneys say. 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