Kelly, Colleagues Demand USPS Abandon Proposed Rule to Carry Out President Trump’s Unconstitutional EO Restricting Vote by Mail

This week, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined all Senate Democrats in demanding the United States Postal Service (USPS) abandon its proposed rule to implement President Trump's unconstitutional executive order to restrict voting by mail.

In April, Kelly, Padilla, Peters, and 26 of their Democratic colleagues introduced the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection (MVP) Act to block President Trump's unconstitutional executive order attacking mail and absentee ballots and sent a letter to the USPS Board of Governors and Postmaster General David Steiner demanding that USPS follow the law and not implement President Trump's unlawful executive order.

"We write for a second time regarding the unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform the United States Postal Service into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump," wrote the senators. "In April, 37 senators wrote to you after President Trump issued his Executive Order directing USPS to issue a rule to establish compulsory specifications for election mail and create a master absentee voter list of millions of American voters - with the power to refuse to deliver their ballots."

"Despite these grave and serious legal deficiencies, on June 2, 2026, USPS published a proposed rule that, if finalized, would establish President Trump's control over federal elections and allow USPS to adjudicate who can and cannot vote by mail. This proposed rule risks disenfranchising millions of voters. We again insist that you follow the law, refuse to implement President Trump's Executive Order, and withdraw this presidentially-directed proposed rule," continued the senators.

The senators warned that the proposed rule would create a federally-controlled national list of absentee voters, raising serious concerns about potential misuse and abuse that could restrict the right to vote of millions of Americans. In court filings, the Administration has acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security is already in discussions with USPS about potentially comparing the list to DHS datasets that have already demonstrated to be flawed. The senators raised concerns that combining USPS data with unreliable federal records could lead to eligible voters being disenfranchised, or voters and election officials being unfairly targeted for investigation.

"Ultimately, the proposed rule seeks to create a centralized national absentee voter database with individualized barcodes connected to the voters' names under the control of the President that contains the voting information of millions of Americans," wrote the senators. "That information would be ripe for potential abuse or improper disclosure potentially imperiling the integrity of American elections."

"Accordingly, we insist that the Postal Service abandon this proposed regulation and return to its core mission of providing universal postal services to every American. The Constitution and federal law demand nothing less," the senators concluded.

Click here to read the full letter.