The U.S.’ chief mailman told lawmakers Wednesday that his agency would restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots in states that don’t hand over a list of eligible voters, in line with proposed rules ordered by President Donald Trump.
Postmaster General David Steiner dismissed Senate Democrats’ concerns that the floated regulations are an attempt by Trump to federalize elections, instead characterizing the proposal as an assurance that “the right ballots are going to the right people” during an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Though any new rule must be approved by the agency’s board of directors, Steiner’s public support is a boost for the president’s efforts to curtail voting by mail, which he has long characterized as susceptible to fraud. Trump issued an executive order in late March mandating the agency propose a rule requiring states to provide the Postal Service with a list of all eligible voters at least 60 days ahead of any federal election.
The proposal comes ahead of the November midterms, contests which usually see the president’s party lose seats in Congress. Republicans on the Hill have expressed growing consternation with their electoral chances they say are being hampered by Trump’s domestic agenda and a deeply unpopular war.
Democrats questioned whether USPS has the constitutional authority to enforce such a rule, arguing that the job of administering elections is delegated to the states.
Steiner, for his part, agreed that the Postal Service is not responsible for administering elections but cast the rule as a procedural step for ensuring ballots are only sent to eligible voters.
“I would think that states would want the information to ensure that the ballots that they think they’re sending out are the ballots that are actually getting sent out,” Steiner said in response to questioning from ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
The postmaster general invoked a May snafu by Maryland’s Board of Elections in which voters received incorrect ballots ahead of the state’s primary election, saying the state “probably would not be where they are today” had it been following the proposed rules. Trump claimed at the time that Maryland officials were attempting to “make sure Democrats win” and promised a Justice Department investigation.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) characterized the proposal as an attempt by the Trump administration to seize control of elections and likened Steiner to a “pawn” in a larger plot.
“The Postal Service is one of the most important institutions in our country,” Slotkin said during the hearing. “Don’t taint it with the obsession of this one man.”
Democrats’ inquiries were punctuated by questions from Republican members on the financial health of the Postal Service, which has seen mail volumes plummet in recent decades and operated at a net loss of $9 billion last year.
Steiner testified that efforts to tighten the agency’s belt, such as suspending employee pension contributions, have resulted in USPS no longer being on track to run out of money by next year, though he admitted the organization has a “broken business model, and we welcome the committee’s focus on fixing it.”
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