Tag: usps

Trump-Appointed D.C. Judge Blocks President Trump’s USPS Mail-In Ballot Safeguards After Democrat Lawsuit — Claims Postal Service “Lacked Authority”

A Trump-appointed federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Sunday blocked the U.S. Postal Service’s new mail-in ballot rule, the one designed to stop untracked, unverified absentee ballots from flooding the midterms, after Democrat committees, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, LULAC, and the NAACP sued to kill it.

As reported right here on The Gateway Pundit back in May, Judge Nichols originally smashed the Democrats’ desperate, multi-headed lawsuits, brought by Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and left-wing activist groups, ruling they had absolutely zero standing to challenge President Trump’s March 31 Executive Order.

We celebrated this as a massive win for basic ballot security. Now, with the election breathing down our necks, Nichols has completely reversed course and sided with the very same activists he previously dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols granted preliminary injunctions against the Postal Service’s Final Rule on “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections.”

He ruled that key parts of the rule were ultra vires: Congress never gave USPS the power to force states to enroll mail voters in a federal portal, build state-specific absentee lists, and refuse outbound ballots that don’t match the list.

According to the court’s memorandum opinion, the rule created a Federal Ballot Mail Portal, required state and local election officials to submit voter and ballot information to USPS, established state-specific participation lists, and allowed the Postal Service to reject outbound federal ballot mail that failed to meet the new requirements.

Judge Nichols wrote that the Postal Reorganization Act authorizes USPS to collect, handle, transport, and deliver mail.

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Appeals court rules against Trump admin’s push for stricter mail-in ballot requirements

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston has upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of a United States Postal Service (USPS) rule that requires stricter measures for voting by mail.

The court sided with the lower court’s decision handed down Thursday, enjoining the USPS rule from being implemented prior to the upcoming November 3rd elections.

“Thus, we see no obvious error in the district court’s conclusion that allowing this Final Rule to be effective for the soon-arriving November 3 election will likely result in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters across the country while providing minimal — if any — gains in combating voter fraud,” the appeals court wrote.

In accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” the USPS finalized a rule, effective August 21st, requiring ballot envelopes to carry unique barcodes and states to submit mail-voter information via a federal portal.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the injunction due to the quick timeline of implementation and questions of constitutionality.

All fifty states allow voting by mail, highlighting the significance of any ruling pertaining to mail-in ballots. According to Talwani:

  • 27 states allow mail-in ballots without voters having to provide an “excuse” — Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
  • Two states allow all eligible citizens to vote by mail and permit counties to opt into conducting elections by mail–Nebraska and North Dakota.
  • 13 states allow vote by mail with justifiable “excuses” — Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

The Trump administration has already requested that the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in the case.

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USPS Inspector General Confirms It: Postal Facilities Botched Mail Ballots in the 2026 Primaries — Wrong Dates in Pennsylvania, No Training on the Wall, and Delayed Ballots Headed Into a Midterm Fight

A new federal audit has exposed serious failures in the U.S. Postal Service’s handling of election mail during the 2026 primary season, including incorrectly postmarked ballots, missing tracking information, delayed deliveries and ballots shipped hundreds of miles in the wrong direction.

ProPublica first reported the audit on September 9. The watchdog’s report is public: Processing of Election and Political Mail for the 2026 Primary Elections.

The September 4 audit by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General examined nine mail-processing facilities and 73 delivery units across eight states between March and May.

While auditors found that most facilities generally followed election-mail procedures, and overall processing scores improved from the 2024 primaries, they also uncovered alarming breakdowns that could determine whether a lawful vote is counted.

The report found that management at 10 of the 82 facilities reviewed was unfamiliar with proper ballot-postmarking policies.

At five of nine mail-processing facilities, auditors discovered hand-canceling devices displaying incorrect dates.

At the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, processing center, a hand canceler being used on the May 19 primary election date was still set to March 19.

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US Postal Worker Indicted After Dumping at Least 30,000 Pieces of Mail in Vacant Lots Since 2024

A St. Louis postal worker has been federally indicted after allegedly dumping an astonishing 30,000 pieces of Americans’ mail in overgrown vacant lots instead of delivering it.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, 54-year-old Armond Paige was indicted on September 2 on one count of delaying or destroying mail while employed by the U.S. Postal Service.

Federal prosecutors allege Paige discarded the mail in vacant, weed-covered lots across St. Louis from approximately 2024 through April 29, 2026.

At the time of the alleged scheme, Paige was working out of the Maryville Gardens Post Office on Meramec Street in south St. Louis.

Paige appeared in federal court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty, according to the Justice Department and First Alert 4.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case.

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Solicitor General John Sauer Warns Supreme Court — “Once These Ballot Envelopes Enter the Mail Stream, THERE IS NO RETRIEVING THEM”

President Trump’s Solicitor General just put the Supreme Court on the clock. If the justices do not act this week, thousands of unsecured mail-in ballots will already be in the postal system, and there will be no way to pull them back.

In an emergency stay application filed over the weekend in United States Postal Service v. California (No. 26A305), Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Court the window is slamming shut.

“Ballots have already begun to be mailed in North Carolina, and more States will begin the mailing process as the injunction remains in place—including Alabama on September 9 and at least five States the week of September 13,” Sauer wrote. “Once those ballot envelopes enter the mailstream, there is no retrieving them.”

North Carolina started sending absentee ballots last Friday. Alabama is scheduled to start Wednesday. A cluster of additional states, including several that matter in November, begin the week of September 13.

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OUTRAGEOUS: Democrats Use Anonymous Whistleblower to Claim President Trump’s EO on Mail-In Ballots Is “Potentially Catastrophic”

Democrats Use Anonymous Whistleblower to Claim President Trump’s EO on Mail-In Ballots Is “Potentially Catastrophic”

You just can’t make this stuff up.  The lying Dems are now using an “anonymous” source to claim that President Trump’s EO regarding Mail-In ballots will be “catastrophic”.

Showing their extraordinary bias, CBS claimed the following:

A whistleblower is warning of “potentially catastrophic problems” with the U.S. Postal Service’s new system for handling mail ballots. The whistleblower is accusing the agency of flouting court rulings by continuing to work on implementing a Trump executive order to tighten mail voting rules before the November midterm elections.

Described by lawyers as a federal official, the anonymous whistleblower revealed the information about the Postal Service’s mail-voting procedures in a disclosure provided to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that was made public Tuesday. In response, Blumenthal is now questioning Postmaster General David Steiner about the Postal Service’s development of a new online portal to house information about voters and their mail ballots.

“The main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans,” Blumenthal told reporters. “One third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail, and the USPS puts all of their votes at risk.”

This report is laughable on multiple fronts.

1. Using an anonymous whistleblower making comments to fit their passion for uncontrolled mail-in ballots is laughable.  The Democrats want no controls around ballots so they can insert millions of votes for their far-left candidates.  Preventing the insertion of bogus votes in one method used to steal elections in prior elections.  President Trump’s EO prevents mail-in ballots from reaching counting centers that have not been properly inserted into the election.

2. Using “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal as your mouthpiece ties you to dishonest reporting.  Senator Blumenthal gained his nickname for claiming he served in Vietnam, which was a lie.

3. Democrats are also parading the creator of the corrupt ERIC voter roll machine to make their case.  This, too, shows their desperation.

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CNN Forced to Issue ‘Clarification’ After Allowing VA Governor Abigail Spanberger to LIE About Trump

CNN recently allowed Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger to blatantly lie on the air, claiming that Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots would negatively affect members of the U.S. Military serving overseas.

Today, Wolf Blitzer offered a ‘clarification’ on the topic, admitting that what Spanberger said was not true.

It’s too bad that they didn’t have the ability to fact-check Spanberger in real time, but you know the media. They always give Democrats the benefit of doubt.

FOX News has details:

On Friday’s installment of “The Situation Room,” Blitzer sat down with Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to discuss the lawsuit the commonwealth filed alongside other blue states to block President Donald Trump’s executive order from March to curb mail-in voting, which was slapped with a 14-day temporary restraining order last week by a federal judge.

“The continued attacks that we’re seeing from the Trump administration is really just an effort to get people fearful, to get people to stay home, and, in many cases, to eliminate what is a valid, safe, secure way for people to be able to have their voices heard and to vote,” Spanberger said.

“And in Virginia, you have a lot of military personnel who totally rely on mail-in ballots if they want to be able to express their opinions,” Blitzer told the governor.

“That’s true,” Spanberger replied. “It’s members of the military service, of our diplomatic service, intelligence services, people serving overseas in service to our country who get their ballots mailed to them at the various postings throughout the world.”

However, Blitzer made a “quick note of clarification” at the end of Monday’s program in reference to his exchange with Spanberger.

“We discussed legal challenges to the Trump administration’s directives for the Postal Service on mail-in voting. A comment I made suggested that U.S. military and overseas voters’ ballots would be impacted by these directives. I want to be clear right now: those ballots are exempt from the Postal Service’s new rules implementing the president’s March executive order,” Blitzer told viewers.

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Leftist Defends Mass Mail In Ballots While Admitting The USPS Sucks

CNN legal so-called analyst Norm Eisen used an appearance on the network to slam President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in ballots while casting doubt on the U.S. Postal Service’s capacity to enforce it.

“No mail-in voting is currently being affected by this rule; it’s grossly unconstitutional, and we and others have gone to court to stop it—we will stop it—and voters should know that this idea that the Postal Service is going to screen every mail-in voter and mail-in ballot in the country is not going to happen,” Eisen said, according to a clips of the interview.

In the same discussion, Eisen quipped that “they can’t even deliver my utility bill on time” and argued that USPS therefore cannot “turn into a kind of super registrar for every voter in the land,” using his own mail delays to contradict his defense of mail in ballot voting to begin with.

His comments came after the Supreme Court, in a 6–3 unsigned order, allowed Trump to move forward with key portions of the March executive order that directs the Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security to build voter-eligibility lists and limit mail-ballot delivery, while explicitly declining to decide the order’s legality leaving it open for further litigation amongst the states across the country.

The justices said the states that sued lacked standing because any harms were still “conjectural or hypothetical,” lifting a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts that had blocked the USPS provisions in 23 states and Washington, D.C.

Even after the Supreme Court’s intervention, Talwani and other lower-court judges have questioned the constitutionality of using USPS to “police” mail voting, with earlier rulings emphasizing that election rules belong to state legislatures and Congress.

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Letitia James: Postal Service and POTUS Don’t Have Jurisdiction Over Elections

Wednesday on MS NOW’s “On the Line,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said the U.S. Postal Service and the president do not “have jurisdiction over the elections.”

James said, “I and my Democratic attorneys general will continue to challenge this rule, because this rule will create nothing but chaos and confusion in the state of North Carolina. In less than 11 days, they will mail out ballots to individuals who are in the armed forces, as well as to citizens in these United States. And it’s critically important that individuals understand that the only reason why this rule was created is because individuals, particularly those in the White House, believe that they cannot run on their record and therefore they have to steal this election. This is nothing more than an attempt to suppress the right to vote. And I and my Democratic colleagues will fight this all the way to the United States Supreme Court.”

She added, “Let’s be clear, the United States Postal Service and the president of these United States does not have jurisdiction over the elections, it is states and it’s in the Constitution. And that’s why it’s critically important that individuals understand that states have the power and the duty and the responsibility to administer elections, not the president and definitely not the postal system.”

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Accused Murderer Out on $600K Bond Recruited USPS Carriers to Steal Nearly $24 MILLION in Checks — Then Sold Them on Telegram

A 28-year-old Houston man already free on a $600,000 bond in a murder case is now accused of running a nearly $24 million check-theft ring, by recruiting U.S. Postal Service mail carriers to steal checks off their own routes and selling the loot on Telegram.

Tryston Tremaine Vaughn, 28, is alleged to have recruited USPS mail carriers to steal checks on their delivery routes, the DOJ said in an August 25 statement.

Those checks were then allegedly bought from the postal workers by Vaughn and others, advertised on a Telegram channel called “slipsandchips,” and shipped to buyers across the country via FedEx.

Prosecutors say the haul totaled approximately $23,973,338.15. One stolen check was for $1.5 million.

And the man accused of running the operation was not locked in a cell while this was happening. He was walking around on bond after a fatal shooting.

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas returned a nine-count indictment charging five people:

  • Tryston Tremaine Vaughn, 28 — alleged recruiter and ringleader
  • Alyssa Nadine Bryant, 27 — accused of helping buy, sell, and ship the stolen checks
  • Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick, 29 — USPS mail carrier (Greens North Station)
  • Drakkor Jamar Alexander, 34 — USPS mail carrier (Spring Main Post Office)
  • Malcolm Tiree Joubert, 35 — USPS mail carrier (Windmill Station)

All five face conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud. The three carriers also face theft of mail matter by a postal employee.

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