By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday defended a plan demanded by President Donald Trump to require states to provide lists of voters who received mailed ballots.
U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner said at a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing that, under the proposal, USPS would not deliver ballots in states where officials refuse to comply.
"The proposed rule basically coerces states to conform to these
new requirements and hand over their absentee voter rolls, or face the consequences of not being able to vote by mail," said Senator Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the committee. "That's unacceptable."
Steiner argued the plan would be more efficient and mirror what many states are currently doing. USPS is making sure "we match the ballots that a state believes they're sending out to what actually gets sent out."
The proposal would require states to provide the USPS the names and barcodes tied to their mail-in ballots for federal elections. It would also require states to provide unique barcodes applied to the outbound and return ballot mail envelopes, saying it "will help determine adherence to federal law and facilitate law enforcement efforts."
All 47 Democratic senators wrote a letter to the Postal Service on Wednesday, urging the agency to drop the plan, calling it an "unconstitutional and illegal attempt to transform USPS into an election administration agency controlled by the White House and President Trump."
Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin said Steiner is a "pawn" in Trump's obsession to take over elections. "You are being used (by President Trump)," Slotkin said. "He does not believe elections that he loses are valid elections."
The proposed regulation stems from Trump's March executive order that aimed to severely restrict mail-in voting, which he has said is prone to fraud, without providing evidence.
Last week, a U.S. judge said Democratic-led states and voting rights groups could proceed with lawsuits challenging the mail-in voting order.
Trump's order directs the Homeland Security Department to compile and transmit to states a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state, derived from citizenship and naturalization records and other federal databases.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rod Nickel)
