Judges Force Postal Service To Deliver Mail
American democracy suffered a catastrophic return to normal Monday after two federal judges blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to convert the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-delivery agency into the nation’s supreme envelope-licensing authority. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, ruled that Congress authorized the agency to transport mail, not determine which Americans may receive ballots, operate a federal voter-data portal or reject envelopes that fail to satisfy newly discovered barcode theology. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani had already frozen the rules in a separate case as voting began for the November 3 midterms.
The rulings leave election officials trapped under the dangerously traditional arrangement in which states administer elections and postal workers deliver properly addressed items bearing sufficient postage. Trump condemned the outbreak of institutional job descriptions. “These judges want the Post Office delivering ballots just because they have addresses and postage, which is unbelievable,” Trump said. “Next they’ll make restaurants serve food, firefighters fight fires and airports let airplanes land. Nobody has ever seen government agencies forced to do their own jobs like this.”
Under the blocked safeguards, states would have uploaded mail-voter information to a federal portal, redesigned ballot envelopes, added individualized barcodes and obtained Postal Service approval shortly before an election already underway. Administration officials described the requirements as common-sense protections against the grave national threat of eligible voters following existing state law. Critics argued that the plan could disenfranchise lawful voters, apparently clinging to the antiquated belief that elections should count ballots rather than measure whether local clerks can complete a surprise federal packaging internship while polls are open.
Nichols’ ruling means millions of Americans may now perform the radical act of voting under rules enacted by their states, while election administrators will be denied the character-building experience of changing systems midstream to satisfy an agency famous for selling stamps. White House officials warned that, unless the Supreme Court intervenes, postal employees could spend the midterms sorting envelopes, moving them between facilities and delivering them to their listed destinations. The Postal Service is now, by force of law, a postal service.
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