8/24/26 – The National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association strongly objects to the United States Postal
Service’s decision to finalize new rules governing federal ballot mail despite serious legal
questions, ongoing litigation, and concerns raised by the NRLCA and others.
NRLCA opposed the Administration’s Executive Order targeting vote by mail when it was issued
earlier this year, and in July we submitted formal comments urging the Postal Service to
withdraw its proposed rule. Our position remains unchanged—the Postal Service should deliver
election mail securely, promptly, and neutrally. It should not assume responsibilities that
properly belong to state and local election officials.
The Postal Service remains one of America’s most trusted public institutions because its
employees serve every community without regard to politics. By issuing these rules, Postal
Service management and Postmaster General David Steiner are undermining that trust and
threatening its reputation with the American public.
The Postal Service has always had a simple role in our elections: deliver the mail, including
ballots, without political interference. These new rules would change that. They would give
Postal Service management a role in determining whether states have met new federal
requirements before their ballots are transmitted through the mail. That threatens the Postal
Service’s independence and the public trust that postal workers have earned by serving every
community without regard to politics.
That represents a significant departure from the Postal Service’s traditional role. State and local
election officials should determine how elections are administered, while USPS performs the
essential and neutral function of transporting ballots between election officials and voters.
Rural Americans have an especially large stake in preserving that system. In communities
where voters may live many miles from a polling place, reliable mail service can be an essential
connection to the ballot box. New administrative requirements that create the possibility of
rejected or delayed ballot mail risk placing additional barriers between rural voters and their
ability to participate in elections.
The timing of this rule is also troubling. Federal courts have already issued injunctions
preventing implementation of these requirements for the 2026 election, and USPS
acknowledges that it cannot implement the rule for this year’s election unless those injunctions
are lifted.
NRLCA will continue to defend the independence and neutrality of the Postal Service and
oppose efforts to turn it into an election enforcement agency.
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Established in 1903, the NRLCA represents approximately 130,000 career and noncareer rural letter carriers that operate out of more than 10,500 rural and suburban
postal delivery units, serving over 85,000 rural routes.
