With one in three voters casting ballots by mail in recent federal elections, an unresolved court fight over new U.S. Postal Service requirements is pushing some to plan expensive alternatives.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani has twice blocked the plan, which would require states to supply voter lists and print specific barcodes on ballot envelopes.
The administration has appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit and the Supreme Court, leaving the rule unsettled as ballots go out.
Kelsi Kiper, a Texas military voter, is weighing roughly $2,000 in flights and rental cars to vote in person. “It’s not something that I think a lot of us in the military are prepared to spend because many military families operate on a single income,” she said.
Ann Madden of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas said her ballot from France arrived too late to count in Pennsylvania’s primary.
Election officials describe compliance problems.
Don Millis, the Republican-appointed chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said “it would be virtually impossible for Wisconsin to comply.” Tammy Patrick of the National Association of Election Officials said late changes carry “the potential to create confusion and chaos.”
Postmaster General David Steiner said the agency is taking whistleblower concerns “seriously” and that its standards “were not compromised.”
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