Mail-in voters weigh flying to vote in person and other backup plans amid uncertainty
For almost a decade, Kelsi Kiper has relied on the U.S. Postal Service to cast her ballots as a voter registered in Texas but stationed out of state with her husband, an active-duty service member.
asserted
Kiper → mail → husband
This year, though, to make sure her voice is heard, she's making a backup plan.
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she → make → plan
Kiper hopes she'll be able to exercise her voting rights by mail for this year's midterm general election.
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she → hop → election
But she recently started considering spending around $2,000 to book flights and rental cars so she can vote in person.
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she → start → person
"It's not something that I think a lot of us in the military are prepared to spend because many military families operate on a single income," Kiper said.
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Kiper → think → income
"For me, I think that it's important to prioritize the rights that our active-duty members are serving to preserve."
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members → think → that
The ongoing legal fight over a Postal Service plan for President Trump's attempt to exert control over federal elections is forcing millions of other eligible voters to navigate the uncertainty with voting by mail for the midterms.
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fight → exert → midterms
For now, USPS is expected to handle election mail as usual.
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USPS → expect → mail
North Carolina and parts of Wisconsin have already started sending out absentee ballots for the general election.
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Carolina → start → election
That's because U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani has blocked USPS from refusing to deliver ballots to voters in states where election officials do not turn over voter lists to the mailing agency and do not have certain specific barcodes on their ballot envelopes.
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officials → block → envelopes
But the Trump administration has asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court to allow those new federal mail ballot requirements for the midterms.
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administration → ask → midterms
Rulings from those courts may come as soon as this week.
uncertain
Rulings → come → week
They could unleash a major upheaval to voting by mail, which was how about 1 in 3 voters cast ballots in the last two federal elections.
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voters → unleash → elections
In her latest ruling against the USPS plan, Judge Talwani warned that other states gearing up to mail out their ballots later this month are "unable to pivot this late in the election cycle, nearly guaranteeing significant disenfranchisement for eligible voters."
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states → warn → voters
Election officials warn of "confusion and chaos" if USPS plan moves ahead
The Postal Service has defended its revised mail ballot rule as "modest data and mail preparation requirements."
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Service → warn → requirements
USPS has also highlighted what it considers the rule's "visibility and law-enforcement benefits," echoing Trump's use of illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens — an incredibly rare problem — to justify the executive order that prompted the USPS plan.
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that → highlight → plan
But Talwani, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, concluded that the plan is a likely illegal effort by a mailing agency that has no authority to control voting by mail.
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that → conclude → mail
In both of her rulings against USPS, the judge noted Trump administration lawyers have provided no evidence of mail-voting fraud to support a rush to carry out new ballot requirements for this year's midterms.
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lawyers → note → midterms
Instead, election officials around the country have offered one sworn statement after another about possible massive disruptions to voting.
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officials → offer → voting
"It would be virtually impossible for Wisconsin to comply," Don Millis, the Republican-appointed chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in a sworn declaration supporting the lawsuit that two dozen mainly Democratic-led states, plus Washington, D.C., brought against the USPS plan.
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states → comply → plan
There's not enough time or money to reprint ballot envelopes in time for the state's Sept. 17 deadline for mailing out absentee ballots for all requests received by then, Millis added.
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Millis → be → requests
To meet USPS' new requirement for specific envelope barcodes, election officials in Wisconsin would need to print stickers and add them by hand — which Millis described as "an impossibility for many jurisdictions," including small, rural communities that "often have a single employee performing all elections-related work.
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that → meet → work
In many Western states, redoing ballot envelopes would only be part of the problem.
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redoing → redo → problem
"Because Washington's elections are designed as primarily vote-by-mail, and have long operated this way," Stuart Holmes, the state's elections director, explained in a court filing, the state "no longer has large-scale election-day infrastructure in place to accommodate a significant shift away from vote-by-mail."
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state → design → mail
The overwhelming majority of voters in Hawaii also count on USPS to receive their ballots, and Scott Nago, the state's chief election officer, said there is "simply insufficient time to coordinate the necessary polling places, volunteers, and logistical framework that would be necessary to emulate the prior polling place model that existed prior to the advent of elections by mail."
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that → count → mail
Dena Dawson, the elections director for Oregon — a fully vote-by-mail state since 2000 — warned: "If technological or implementation failure prevents the delivery of mail ballots in this vote-by-mail state, Oregonians have no other means by which to cast their votes."
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Oregonians → vote → votes
Last week, a whistleblower report claimed the Postal Service's new systems for enforcing its ballot requirements have not been properly tested and could lead to many eligible voters not getting their ballots in time for the midterms or at all.
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voters → claim → midterms
The USPS inspector general's office has started an independent review of those allegations, spokesperson Tara Linne confirmed in a statement.
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Linne → start → statement
In response to the report, Postmaster General David Steiner said USPS is taking the whistleblower's concerns "seriously" and that the agency's "standards for quality, security, and system integrity were not compromised" during the "accelerated" development of the new systems.
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standards → say → systems
Still, USPS has only been able to confirm that there would be a rollout "sometime" this week of the online portal system state election officials would need to use to turn over their voter lists.
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officials → confirm → lists
"Whenever we have change in the system close to an election, it has the potential to create confusion and chaos," explained Tammy Patrick, chief programs officer for the National Association of Election Officials.
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Patrick → have → Officials
"And let's be honest: There are some people that want nothing more than for our elections to be perceived as chaotic or for voters to not understand what their rights are and what the rules of engagement are in order for them to effectively participate.
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them → let → order
In North Carolina, which began mailing out absentee ballots on Sept. 4, local election officials are making do with the uncertainty.
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officials → begin → uncertainty
Corinne Duncan, elections director for Buncombe County in western North Carolina, has been getting more questions from local voters about mail-in voting and the Postal Service at outreach events, where she says she's reminding people to get their absentee ballots in the mail as soon as possible.
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she → get → mail
"We're always working on contingency planning and making our system as adjustable as possible because it is truly non-negotiable.
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it → work → planning
We will make that election happen," Duncan added.
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Duncan → make → ?
"I think we proved that in the COVID-19 times.
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we → think → times
Recently for us in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we made that election happen, too.
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election → make → Helene
So change happens, but we're going to vote."
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we → happen → ?
Derek Bowens, elections director for North Carolina's Durham County, says his office has also been "pressure tested."
"We still stand firm that we'll be able to get these ballots out to voters with enough time for them to review, make their decisions and return them back to our office," Bowens said.
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Bowens → say → office
…and 15 more, not listed.
