WASHINGTON — More than three dozen Democratic senators have sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service demanding it refrain from implementing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aiming to put new rules on voting by mail around the country. 

What You Need To Know

  • More than three dozen Democratic senators sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service demanding it refrain from implementing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aiming to put new rules on voting by mail around the country

  • The Democrats pointed specifically to the order’s directive for the creation of a national log of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and the requirement that USPS not send absentee ballots to those the lists as an effort to turn the country’s mail and package delivery agency into “an election administrator and regulator"

  • The order was immediately decried by many Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups and met with a flurry of lawsuits

  • Trump has a long history of criticizing mail-in voting as part of his well-documented critiques of elections in the U.S. and claims the 2020 contest was stolen from him, despite no evidence of widespread fraud that would have impacted the outcome being found

In the letter, the senators argue that Trump’s order, announced late last month, is a part of his push to “unconstitutionally consolidate power to personally regulate American elections,” in this case with the help of the nation’s postal service in particular. 

The Democrats pointed specifically to the order’s directive for the creation of a national log of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and the requirement that USPS not send absentee ballots to those not on the lists as an effort to turn the country’s mail and package delivery agency into “an election administrator and regulator.”

The group also contended that such directives in the order give the USPS the “final say about whether to transmit a voter’s absentee ballots to election officials,” thus giving it the “ability to disenfranchise American voters.”

“This directive will have a chilling effect on the eligibility of American voters to exercise their constitutional right to vote by imposing unnecessary barriers and would corrupt the independent mission of the Postal Service to determine who can vote by mail,” the Democratic senators wrote. 

The letter was signed by 37 Democrats and spearheaded by the party’s leader in the upper chamber, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, along with the ranking members of the Senate committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Rules and Administration, and Judiciary.

The White House did not respond to an inquiry from Spectrum News about the letter. USPS also did not respond to Spectrum News’ inquiry on the letter and whether it intends to comply with the order. 

Trump’s order — which also seeks to implement changes such as adding barcodes on ballot envelopes for tracking purposes, requiring USPS to conduct a mail envelope design review and withholding federal funds from states that do not follow the rules — was immediately decried by many Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups. It was also met with a flurry of lawsuits, including from the attorneys general from more than 20 Democratic-led states and well-known civil and voting rights organizations. The first major lawsuit came from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors Association and two other Democratic campaign groups and was joined by both Schumer and the House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. 

Opponents contend, among other things, that the order infringes on state’s constitutional authority to administer elections — an issue that also received significant attention when Trump suggested nationalizing the process earlier this year and called for more federal control. 

Trump has a long history of criticizing mail-in voting as part of his well-documented critiques of elections in the U.S. and claims the 2020 contest was stolen from him, despite no evidence of widespread fraud being found that would have impacted the outcome. Despite appearing to soften his tone on the issue ahead of the 2024 election when he took part in a video message for the Republican National Committee’s campaign to encourage GOP voters to embrace the voting method, Trump has since returned to his criticism of it. 

Just this week, he targeted the practice in his critique of the outcome of a Virginia election on redistricting despite providing no evidence. 

He faced backlash last month, however, when he himself cast a ballot by mail in a special election in Florida, where his residence Mar-a-Lago is located. The White House attributed his use of a mail-in ballot to him currently living primarily at the White House and noted he has called for “commonsense exceptions” to allow the practice in some cases. 

Recently, Trump has been pushing Congress to pass an election bill called the SAVE America Act, which aims to ensure a person is required to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and looks to implement a nationwide photo ID requirement.