MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Trump administration is back at the Supreme Court to push for restrictions to mail-in voting.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The administration wants the Postal Service to check mail-in ballots instead of just delivering them. Lower courts so far have blocked this effort, but the administration is still trying to apply it to the midterm election, for which mail-in voting begins today.
MARTIN: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang is back to break this all down. Good morning, Hansi.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So this all goes back to an executive order that President Trump signed in March. But didn't the Supreme Court already rule on that order?
WANG: Yes, they did just last week, but that ruling was on a procedural question about one of the lawsuits over Trump's order. And now the administration is back to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the legality of the Postal Service's plan to follow that order. And I should note, USPS is a financial supporter of NPR. And basically, the question before the court this time is, does USPS have the legal authority to refuse to deliver ballots to voters if state election officials don't turn over to USPS lists of mail-in voters' names and addresses and if officials don't have certain bar codes on the ballot envelopes?
MARTIN: OK. So those are the requirements that the Postal Service under the direction of the Trump administration wants states to follow. Are any states doing all of that right now?
WANG: No. And a federal judge in Boston has found those requirements for mail ballots are likely illegal because USPS has no authority to control voting by mail. So the judge blocked USPS from imposing those requirements, and that's the block the Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to lift right now.
MARTIN: And what's the Trump administration's argument for that?
WANG: The Justice Department is arguing that these new mail ballot requirements the Postal Service wants to impose on states is just a way for USPS to regulate mail and that this is not regulating federal elections, which the Constitution says are controlled by states and Congress. But the fact is, Congress has passed laws that require USPS to deliver the mail, and the exceptions to that mandate do not include mail ballots that are addressed to real voters and have the right postage.
MARTIN: So that's the legal debate playing out in the courts, but, you know, the election is playing out too. What is the state of mail-in voting for the midterms today?
WANG: Well, for now, there's still a block on key parts of the Postal Service plan. So mail-in voting is still available to all voters who are eligible for it in their states, and USPS is expected to deliver ballots as usual. In fact, North Carolina state law requires election officials there to begin mailing out absentee ballots today, which means today is the first official day of voting for the general election, and other states are gearing up to get their mail-in ballots out later this month so - and I should note, some states are trying to comply with these new ballot requirements, but they can't follow all of them because USPS is not finished setting up the online portal system they need to do that.
MARTIN: And at this point, can this Postal Service plan at the direction of President Trump even be carried out?
WANG: You know, that's a key question. And many election officials say no, that it's too late. Remember, we had a whistleblower report earlier this week claiming that the online portal system has not been properly tested, and it's set up in a way, this whistleblower claims, that could lead to many eligible voters not getting their ballots in time or at all. And just yesterday, USPS confirmed in their court filing, the agency still does not have a firm launch date for that online portal. It said it would be ready, quote, "sometime next week."
MARTIN: Before we let you go, how are mail-in voters and elections officials dealing with this uncertainty?
WANG: You know, there's a lot of concern that this plan, if it's allowed to move ahead, could cause major disruptions. So we'll have to see how the Supreme Court rules and when the Supreme Court rules.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. Hansi, thank you.
WANG: You're welcome, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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