Rhode Island joins lawsuit to stop Trump's Postal Service from messing with mail-in voting

From a Rhode Island Attorney General press release

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha joined a coalition of 25 states in filing 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, and the

coalition argues USPS’s rule will prevent states from effectively administering

their mail voting programs, putting voters at risk of being disenfranchised.

“For a President who incessantly talks about combating

election interference, he sure does love to interfere in our elections,” said

Attorney General Neronha. “Time and time again, President Trump has lied to the

American people about the legitimacy of our election system. Here, he is taking

aim at voting by mail to sow seeds of distrust and inject chaos into our

elections, with the ultimate goal of retaining and expanding his power. This is

yet another example of this Administration’s unlawful overreach and is in

direct violation of the Constitution, which makes clear that states have the

primary authority to administer elections. Voting by mail is a tried-and-true

method of exercising our most fundamental right as American citizens. Indeed,

it’s the preferred voting method of the President himself. I am confident that

we will succeed here, as we have many times before, thereby protecting the

right of American citizens, Donald Trump included, to vote without

interference.”

On March 31, 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, requiring states to register every voter eligible to vote by mail with USPS and tasking USPS with compiling registered voters into state-specific lists. The rule also establishes new design requirements for mail-in ballot envelopes created by states, which states must meet and have 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.

The coalition argues that the rule inflicts significant,

irreparable harm on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements that

risk disenfranchising eligible voters. With 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 weeks and without additional resources, state

election officials must also develop new systems to communicate mail voter

lists to USPS to ensure every eligible voter 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 before 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 Rhode Island, Secretary of State Gregg

Amore anticipates mailing approximately 30,000 ballots for the 2026

general election. Across primary and general elections in 2022 and 2024,

between 9 and 14.9% of Rhode Island voters voted by mail. Since the inception

of vote-by-mail, Congress has never exercised its authority to limit it and has

instead 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 that 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 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, Attorney General Neronha joined a coalition

of 24 states in suing the

Trump Administration to block its unlawful Executive Order that prompted the

creation of USPS’s rule.

Joining Attorney General Neronha in filing this lawsuit are

the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,

Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine,

Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico,

New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and

the District of Columbia, as well as the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.