Padilla, Senate Democrats Demand USPS Abandon Plan to Carry Out Trump’s Illegal Executive Order Restricting Vote by Mail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and California’s former Secretary of State, Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding the United States Postal Service or USPS abandon its proposed rule to implement President Trump’s unconstitutional executive order or EO to restrict voting by mail.

Padilla, Peters, and Schumer previously led a group of colleagues in urging USPS not to carry out Trump’s EO, which would force states to submit absentee voters’ information to the Postal Service for the creation of a federal mail-in voter list. USPS did not respond to that letter and has now issued a proposed rule that would ultimately allow the Postal Service to determine whether millions of Americans can receive and cast ballots through the mail.  

In a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner and the USPS Board of Governors, the Senators warned that the proposed rule would create a federally controlled national list of absentee voters, raising serious concerns about potential misuse and abuse. President Trump’s unconstitutional EO and USPS’s illegal draft rule have come as Trump’s demands to ban vote-by-mail in the so-called SAVE America Act have failed to advance in the U.S. Senate.

“We write for a second time regarding the unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform the United States Postal Service into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump,” wrote the Senators. “In April, 37 senators wrote to you after President Trump issued his Executive Order directing USPS to issue a rule to establish compulsory specifications for election mail and create a master absentee voter list of millions of American voters – with the power to refuse to deliver their ballots.” 

“Despite these grave and serious legal deficiencies, on June 2, 2026, USPS published a proposed rule that, if finalized, would establish President Trump’s control over federal elections and allow USPS to adjudicate who can and cannot vote by mail,” continued the Senators. “This proposed rule risks disenfranchising millions of voters. We again insist that you follow the law, refuse to implement President Trump’s Executive Order, and withdraw this presidentially-directed proposed rule.” 

In court filings, the Trump Administration has acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security or DHS is already in discussions with USPS about potentially comparing the list to DHS datasets. The Senators raised concerns that combining USPS data with unreliable federal records could lead to eligible voters being disenfranchised, or voters and election officials being unfairly targeted for investigation.

“Ultimately, the proposed rule seeks to create a centralized national absentee voter database with individualized barcodes connected to the voters’ names under the control of the President that contains the voting information of millions of Americans,” wrote the Senators. “That information would be ripe for potential abuse or improper disclosure potentially imperiling the integrity of American elections.” 

“Accordingly, we insist that the Postal Service abandon this proposed regulation and return to its core mission of providing universal postal services to every American. The Constitution and federal law demand nothing less,” concluded the Senators. 

Details: Full letter is available here