AG Jennings sues United States Postal Service over unlawful attempt to interfere with states’ vote-by-mail procedures

Attorney General Kathy Jennings has announced that she and a coalition of 25 states have filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service (USPS) challenging its new rule that purports to grant USPS the authority to regulate mail voting in elections.

Tens of millions of voters across the country rely on mail-in ballots. The coalition argues that USPS's rule will prevent states from effectively administering their mail voting programs, putting voters at risk of being disenfranchised.

"No matter what the Trump Administration says, the law is clear: the USPS does not have the authority to arbitrarily decide whose ballots will be counted and whose will not," said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "This a brazen attempt at election interference, and we're not going to stand for it."

On March 31, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots only to voters on the list. On August 21, USPS announced a new rule implementing the President's demands that require states to register every voter who is eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling the registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for the mail-in ballot envelopes created by states, which states are required to meet and get approved by USPS. Under the rule, USPS will not deliver ballots to voters who do not appear on the USPS-generated lists and will not deliver ballots in envelopes that fail to comply with the rule's new standards.

AG Jennings and the coalition argue the rule inflicts significant, irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. With the start of the general election season mere weeks away, states must bear the cost of redesigning their mail ballot envelopes and securing USPS review and approval before they can even register mail voters with USPS. Within a matter of weeks and without any additional resources, state election officials must also develop new systems to communicate mail voter lists to USPS to ensure that every eligible voter who is entitled to a mail ballot receives one. States must also create new guidance for election officials, train them on the new procedures, and educate the public about the changes prior to the upcoming election.

Even if states were to meet these enormous administrative and financial burdens, the rule could still result in eligible voters not receiving their ballots due to, for instance, administrative errors or flaws in the rushed and untested new procedures.

Over the past several decades, voting by mail has become more popular across the country. In the 2024 general election, over 38,000 people cast their ballot by mail in Delaware. Since the inception of vote-by-mail, Congress has never exercised its authority to limit it, and in fact, has only taken action to expand and protect mail voting for military and overseas voters. Congress has also never authorized USPS to monitor or control the transmission of mail ballots.

The coalition argues that USPS's rule violates the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the primary authority to administer elections, and upends successful, longstanding vote-by-mail procedures. The lawsuit argues the rule is inconsistent with USPS's governing statutes, ignores USPS's procedural requirements, violates the Privacy Act, and is inconsistent with federal voting rights law. The coalition asks the court to strike down the unlawful rule and issue a temporary restraining order preventing the rule from taking effect while the litigation proceeds.

This USPS rule is the latest attempt by President Trump to exert federal control over elections and seize states' constitutional authority to administer elections. In April, Kathy Jennings and a coalition of 24 states sued the Trump Administration to block its unlawful Executive Order that prompted the creation of USPS's rule. AG Jennings is also fighting the Trump Administration's unlawful attempt to force Delaware to turn over unredacted information about person on its voter registration rolls. Courts have so far dismissed 22 of the 31 similar lawsuits filed by the administration in other jurisdictions.

Joining AG Jennings in filing this lawsuit, which is co-led by the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.