Street Democracy Opposes Federal Rule That Would Let USPS Track and Reject Mail-In Ballots

Street Democracy submitted a comment opposing a proposed U.S. Postal Service rule that would create national verification and tracking standards for mail-in and absentee ballots.

The rule would let USPS cross-reference outgoing ballots against federal databases and withhold or flag ballots over mismatches — in a name, an address, or a gender marker. For the people we represent, that is not a technical fix. It is a new barrier to the vote.

People experiencing homelessness move often and already rely on state accommodations — registering and receiving mail at a shelter, a day center, or a relative's address — that a rigid federal database doesn't account for. People with disabilities depend on mail-in voting as their most accessible path to the ballot. Transgender voters, for whom updating a legal name or gender marker costs money and time most of our clients don't have, would see every mismatch turned into a "verification flag" and a withheld ballot.

We opposed the rule on three independent grounds: it violates the Constitution's Elections Clause, which gives states — not USPS — authority over the times, places, and manner of federal elections; USPS has no legal authority under the Postal Reorganization Act to act as a voter-verification agency; and, regardless of its legal footing, the rule disenfranchises unhoused, disabled, and transgender voters by turning routine instability into grounds for rejecting a ballot.

USPS's core mission is to deliver the mail to everyone, equally. We urged USPS to withdraw the proposed rule in its entirety.