{"id":40057,"date":"2026-08-27T11:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=40057"},"modified":"2026-08-27T11:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:43:13","slug":"nrlca-statement-on-usps-final-rule-governing-federal-ballot-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2026\/08\/27\/nrlca-statement-on-usps-final-rule-governing-federal-ballot-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"NRLCA Statement on USPS’ Final Rule Governing Federal Ballot Mail"},"content":{"rendered":"

8\/24\/26 – The National Rural Letter Carriers\u2019 Association strongly objects to the United States Postal
\nService\u2019s decision to finalize new rules governing federal ballot mail despite serious legal
\nquestions, ongoing litigation, and concerns raised by the NRLCA and others.<\/p>\n

NRLCA opposed the Administration\u2019s Executive Order targeting vote by mail when it was issued
\nearlier this year, and in July we submitted formal comments urging the Postal Service to
\nwithdraw its proposed rule. Our position remains unchanged\u2014the Postal Service should deliver
\nelection mail securely, promptly, and neutrally. It should not assume responsibilities that
\nproperly belong to state and local election officials.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service remains one of America\u2019s most trusted public institutions because its
\nemployees serve every community without regard to politics. By issuing these rules, Postal
\nService management and Postmaster General David Steiner are undermining that trust and
\nthreatening its reputation with the American public.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service has always had a simple role in our elections: deliver the mail, including
\nballots, without political interference. These new rules would change that. They would give
\nPostal Service management a role in determining whether states have met new federal
\nrequirements before their ballots are transmitted through the mail. That threatens the Postal
\nService\u2019s independence and the public trust that postal workers have earned by serving every
\ncommunity without regard to politics.<\/p>\n

That represents a significant departure from the Postal Service\u2019s traditional role. State and local
\nelection officials should determine how elections are administered, while USPS performs the
\nessential and neutral function of transporting ballots between election officials and voters.<\/p>\n

Rural Americans have an especially large stake in preserving that system. In communities
\nwhere voters may live many miles from a polling place, reliable mail service can be an essential
\nconnection to the ballot box. New administrative requirements that create the possibility of
\nrejected or delayed ballot mail risk placing additional barriers between rural voters and their
\nability to participate in elections.<\/p>\n

The timing of this rule is also troubling. Federal courts have already issued injunctions
\npreventing implementation of these requirements for the 2026 election, and USPS
\nacknowledges that it cannot implement the rule for this year\u2019s election unless those injunctions
\nare lifted.<\/p>\n

NRLCA will continue to defend the independence and neutrality of the Postal Service and
\noppose efforts to turn it into an election enforcement agency.
\n\u2014
\nEstablished 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
\npostal delivery units, serving over 85,000 rural routes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8\/24\/26 – The National Rural Letter Carriers\u2019 Association strongly objects to the United States Postal Service\u2019s 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\u2019s Executive Order targeting vote by mail when it was issued earlier this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40058,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057\/revisions\/40058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}