Whistleblower says USPS defied court to push ‘untested’ portal for Trump mail voting order
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USPS → say → order
A Postal Service whistleblower says a rushed, error-filled computer system tied to President Trump’s new mail voting order could delay or block ballots for millions of Americans this fall.
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system → say → Americans
Trump’s March order requires USPS to send ballots only to voters on new federal citizenship lists, and is currently being fought by California and other states, voting rights groups and Democratic organizations in court.
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order → require → court
The U.S. Postal Service is rushing to implement President Trump’s new rules for mail ballots — despite a court order barring it from doing so — using “an entirely new and untested set of IT systems” that could cause “catastrophic problems” in the November election, according to an agency whistleblower.
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that → rush → whistleblower
“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the unidentified whistleblower alleged in a statement published Tuesday by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
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whistleblower → receive → Investigations
Among other issues, the whistleblower alleged that the Postal Service’s new Federal Ballot Mail Portal for verifying mail ballots — which Trump demanded in a March executive order and California and other states are challenging in court — has been built in a “slapdash” manner and is “fundamentally flawed.”
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California → allege → manner
Thousands of ballots would be invalidated whenever a single ballot’s newly designed Postal Service barcode isn’t properly read, the whistleblower said.
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whistleblower → invalidate → ballots
“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters,” read the whistleblower’s statement, which the group Whistleblower Aid helped draft.
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group → design → which
A Postal Service spokesperson said in a statement to The Times that the agency was “carefully reviewing the concerns” raised by Blumenthal and the whistleblower, welcomes oversight and is committed to transparency.
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agency → say → transparency
The agency has spent months developing its portal “to provide election officials with a simple, secure, and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states,” and is “now finalizing the portal and will soon make it available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform,” the spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → spend → platform
The work “has at all times been conducted in a manner consistent with court orders,” the spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → conduct → orders
Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, downplayed the concerns.
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Bis → downplay → concerns
“The process of building software to carry out this new verification check is neither complex nor unique for USPS since the Postal Service regularly uses bulk mailing and intelligent mail bar codes for a wide variety of large customers,” Bis said.
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Bis → build → customers
“Under President Trump, the federal government is working to ensure safe, transparent, and honest elections.
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government → work → elections
This new secret tracking system at the U.S. Postal Service is faulty, untested, and threatens to totally disrupt ballot delivery for millions of American citizens
— Rep. Robert Garcia
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office has been leading the state challenge to the Postal Service changes in court, said his office has been “arguing in court that USPS cannot credibly implement the drastic, unprecedented, and unlawful changes at issue in time for the November midterm elections.”
The whistleblower’s statement, he added, “only strengthens that position and underscores the importance of our litigation and other legal challenges to the Trump Administration’s actions.”
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he → track → actions
Other California leaders expressed outrage and demanded the Postal Service plans be abandoned.
“This new secret tracking system at the U.S. Postal Service is faulty, untested, and threatens to totally disrupt ballot delivery for millions of American citizens,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, who said his committee had also received the whistleblower’s statement.
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committee → express → statement
“Defying court orders to engage in election interference should bring prison time.
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Defying → defy → time
Defend democracy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X.
“Our elections are safe and secure.
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elections → defend → X.
They WORK,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) wrote on the same platform.
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Padilla → work → platform
“Trump is trying to sow chaos for mail voting in the midterm elections because prices are up, his policies are unpopular, and he knows the American people are going to be heard loud and clear on Election Day.”
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people → try → Day
California law requires all registered voters be sent a ballot in the mail, and more than 80% of California voters have used those ballots to vote in recent elections.
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% → require → elections
A majority of state voters in a recent poll identified potential interference in the election by the Trump administration as a “major concern.”
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majority → identify → concern
Trump — who votes by mail himself — has contended without evidence that the changes are necessary to combat widespread voter fraud, including by noncitizens.
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changes → vote → noncitizens
Independent elections experts say there is no evidence that such fraud exists in large numbers.
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fraud → say → numbers
President Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states run elections.
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states → spend → elections
Trump’s executive order called on the Postal Service to change its rules to require each state to submit a list of eligible voters to the Postal Service, and to use new ballot envelopes with digital bar codes allowing the Postal Service to identify and reject any that don’t match the lists.
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that → call → lists
The order also called on the Department of Homeland Security to develop its own lists of eligible citizen voters by state, ostensibly to be compared against the state lists.
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order → call → lists
The Postal Service’s final rule adopting the changes did not claim authority to dictate which voters may appear on state lists, but said the lists would put federal law enforcement in “a better position to identify any potential issues” with ballots.
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lists → adopt → ballots
Under President Trump, the federal government is working to ensure safe, transparent, and honest elections
— Lauren Bis, White House spokesperson
Multiple lower court orders in recent months have barred the Postal Service from implementing the changes, though the whistleblower alleged those orders were ignored.
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orders → work → changes
Some of those orders were lifted after the Supreme Court last month found that federal agencies could continue to prepare for the changes prior to implementing them.
However, after the Postal Service issued its “final rule” for implementing the changes on Aug. 21, California and other litigants sued again last week — winning another temporary restraining order barring the changes from taking effect.
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California → lift → effect
The Postal Service spokesperson said that order did not bar the agency from working “to establish the portal and communicate with states regarding design standards on a voluntary basis.”
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order → say → basis
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote that the court did not have “any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting” before it, and that the Postal Service’s “interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote.”
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who → write → ballots
Talwani, who also issued some of the previous orders blocking the changes, has repeatedly expressed concern about the short timeline until the Nov. 3 elections and the Postal Service’s ability to implement the changes in time.
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who → issue → time
The whistleblower’s statement bolsters such concerns.
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statement → bolster → concerns
The whistleblower described “a slapdash software development process as the USPS attempted to create this complex IT system, with multiple points of ballot review, in a matter of weeks.”
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USPS → describe → weeks
The effort, the whistleblower wrote, “deviates dangerously from even the most basic software development best practices.”
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whistleblower → write → practices
The whistleblower noted “significant concern, among those whose job it is to build this software, that the project violates standard principles of testing and debugging new software” before a Tuesday deadline for making the system ready for use by the states, and that “multiple USPS officials” have referred to the development process as a “s— show.”
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officials → note → show
The whistleblower also said that Postal Service leaders ordered employees to resume work on the system about a month ago, while it was barred by the court.
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it → say → court
In a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, Blumenthal said the whistleblower’s allegations “make clear that USPS lacks the technical or operational capability needed to effectively implement” Trump’s desired changes, and should abandon the effort.
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USPS → say → effort
Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor who studies elections and was a senior policy advisor on democracy and voting rights in the Biden White House, said he is not surprised that a nationwide voting system developed in a matter of weeks is “not ready for prime time.”
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system → study → time
…and 5 more, not listed.
