While the Trump era has been marked by chaos, mail-in voting has consistently remained the most contentious election-related issue. Once a bipartisan reform aimed at making voting more convenient and accessible, it has — thanks to lies spread by Donald Trump — been transformed into an ideological battle line between Democrats and Republicans.
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January 6, 2026
While the Trump era has been marked by chaos, mail-in voting has consistently remained the most contentious election-related issue. Once a bipartisan reform aimed at making voting more convenient and accessible, it has — thanks to lies spread by Donald Trump — been transformed into an ideological battle line between Democrats and Republicans.
Even before Election Day in 2016, Trump was suggesting that Colorado’s vote-by-mail system was fraudulent. His attacks have never stopped; in fact, they have only grown more conspiratorial and dangerous.
Republicans have become increasingly adept at making it harder to vote by mail and more likely that ballots will be rejected. Their methods include, just to name a few, banning ballot drop boxes, making it more difficult to obtain a mail ballot, and instituting new voter ID requirements for mail-in voting.
In recent years, Republicans have spent millions of dollars on litigation aimed at disqualifying mail-in ballots based on technicalities. They even waged a campaign to overturn an election by targeting overseas and military voters.
As we begin 2026, a new development threatens to further undermine voting by mail. A recent rule change at the U.S. Postal Service means that postmarks will no longer reflect the date a piece of mail was deposited at a local post office. Instead, postmarks will be applied at a regional processing facility.
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Making matters worse, the USPS has scaled back evening mail pickups in vast parts of the country. Voters whose post offices are more than 50 miles from a regional processing facility will be hit hardest. Roughly 149 million Americans across 70% of U.S. ZIP codes will be affected.
To be clear, the USPS claims these changes reflect budgetary realities, not an effort to undermine voting. Regardless of the motivation, eligible voters will pay the price when their ballots are rejected.
For Republicans, rejecting mail-in ballots due to postal delays is a feature, not a bug. They understand that in close elections, it can mean the difference between winning and losing. That they may disenfranchise lawful voters is of no concern to the party of election deniers and fraudsters.
I am often asked whether the GOP’s attacks on voting by mail might backfire. The assumption is that Republican voters will be more likely to be disenfranchised than Democratic voters. At first blush, this may seem plausible — after all, rural voters will be more directly impacted by these changes than urban voters.
Unfortunately, that assumption is wrong.
First, more Democrats vote by mail, meaning that any increase in rejected mail-in ballots will disproportionately affect Democratic voters.
Second, in my experience, younger voters are more likely to have their ballots rejected for arriving too late. This likely reflects the fact that older voters tend to return their ballots more quickly than younger voters. In fact, voting by mail may very well be the first time a Gen Z voter has sent a piece of postage. It may take them an extra day to locate the mailbox.
Finally, certain minority communities are less likely to be served by reliable mail service, making them especially vulnerable to mail delays.
While this setback is discouraging, that does not mean there are no solutions.
First, Congress has broad authority to regulate the Postal Service. The Constitution grants Congress the power “to establish Post Offices and post Roads.” Congress could enact legislation requiring election mail to be postmarked on the day it is received at a local post office. It could also provide additional funding to the USPS to make these changes unnecessary.
Second, states can mitigate the problem by expanding the availability of ballot drop boxes. These secure metal containers resemble mailboxes but are serviced directly by election officials. Ballots placed in drop boxes never enter the mail system and therefore face no postal delays.
Third, states can require localities to provide prepaid postage envelopes for returning mail-in ballots. The need to find stamps often delays voters — particularly younger voters — from returning their ballots promptly.
Fourth, states should explicitly allow alternative delivery services for returning mail-in ballots. Private carriers such as FedEx and UPS should be permitted — and financially incentivized — to collect and return ballots, especially in areas where mail service is slow.
Finally, a large-scale voter education campaign is needed to warn voters that their mail-in ballots may not be postmarked on the day they are delivered to their local post office. Voters must be encouraged to return ballots as soon as they receive them and to use ballot drop boxes or other alternatives whenever possible.
No single solution will be sufficient to prevent the disenfranchisement of voters who did everything right and whose only mistake was trusting the U.S. Postal Service with their ballot. Taken together, however, these measures can significantly reduce the number of affected voters.
Ensuring that lawful voters can cast their ballots and have them counted should be a bipartisan goal. It is not. For now, it falls to Democrats and the pro-democracy community to step forward — even as the USPS has taken a step back.
You count on Marc Elias for clear, reliable insights on the fight for voting rights. Become a member today ([link removed] ) to always get exclusive updates and stay connected to what matters most.
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