On the Tuesday, August 11, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast: The Supreme Court is weighing the Trump administration’s request to revive an untested mail-in ballot system less than 90 days before the midterms. Election officials warn that making changes so close to the election could affect whether eligible voters receive ballots and create errors that cannot be undone. USA TODAY Senior National Reporter Sarah D. Wire explains what the court is considering and why separate Postal Service postmark changes mean voters may need to mail their ballots early or use a secure drop box.
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Dana Taylor:
Less than 90 days before the midterms, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revive a plan that would give the US Postal Service a new rule in how mail-in ballots are distributed and delivered. The administration says the rules would help secure elections, but state and election officials warn that changing the system after election preparations are already underway could create significant challenges for voters and election administrators. The big question, if you are a mail-in voter, could your vote not be counted?
Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. Sarah D. Wire covers national politics for USA TODAY and has been reporting on the legal fight and what it could mean for voters this fall. Sarah, it's always good to have you on.
Sarah D. Wire:
Thanks for having me.
Dana Taylor:
Let's start with what's before the court. What is the Trump administration asking the justices to allow?
Sarah D. Wire:
So back in March, President Trump signed an executive order that involved the Postal Service in deciding who gets a mail-in ballot for the first time. So the lower court put on hold that executive order. The Department of Homeland Security would be tasked with looking at state voter rules and comparing them to immigration records. Then the states would have to print brand new envelopes to send out ballots in, and the Postal Service would look at each of those barcodes and compare them back to the immigration records. And this isn't a system that's been developed yet. It's still kind of in the early process. And like you said, we're less than 90 days out before the election.
Dana Taylor:
So if an eligible voter is missing from one of these lists, would they know? And would there be time to correct the error before their ballot is withheld?
Sarah D. Wire:
That's one of the big unknowns because the process hasn't been completed yet. In theory, they would be allowed to check online or some kind of registry to find that out, but every county in this country runs elections differently. There's also no way of making sure that they would have a chance to what's called cure the ballot, fix any problems.
Dana Taylor:
Sarah, the Justice Department says the lower courts acted too soon because the Postal Service has not finished writing the rules. Why did the court step in before the policy was final?
Sarah D. Wire:
The states complained to the courts that elections can't be rerun. And so because they don't have the rules and we're so close to the election, they had no way of verifying that this would work. And if it doesn't work and millions of people cast ballots, that problem can't be fixed.
Dana Taylor:
What did the lower courts say about whether the president has the authority to make these changes?
Sarah D. Wire:
This argument was about the timing of when it goes into place. It's actually not looking at whether the president has the authority to do that. The lower court says that's an argument for when this actually goes to trial. They said specifically for the states that are suing, that it's too early to put this into place until it can be tested.
Dana Taylor:
Election officials have warned that implementing these changes this close to the election could be disruptive. Sarah, what would they have to change or redo at this point?
Sarah D. Wire:
I think a lot of Americans don't understand how much time goes into planning an election. Election officials start pretty much the day after the last one. And so a lot of plans have already been put into place. How ballots will be received, what machines to use, even what the envelopes look like have been planned months in advance. And we're getting to the point so close to election day where legally states can't go through and look at the voter rules and remove them because there's not enough time for people to fix any problems that might be with their registration. And so the local election officials are saying that there's not enough time for them to implement these changes, particularly printing new envelopes that have these specific barcodes that the Postal Service would need to use. These envelopes were bought months ago, and so there would be a big additional cost.
They need to train employees for what to do when people come in angry that their ballot wasn't counted. They also need time to educate voters about what's happening. That's a process that's probably started months ago of what to do and how to do it properly in order to vote.
Dana Taylor:
The administration argues these rules would help secure elections. What specific problem does it say this policy is trying to solve?
Sarah D. Wire:
President Trump has spoken for a long time about his concerns about absentee ballots and specifically illegal immigrants voting absentee and not having to prove their identities at a polling location. There's very little proof that in any election there has been enough absentee ballot fraud to sway a result. Even conservative think tanks have done their own reports and have found less than 100th of a percent of ballots come back from people who should be not able to vote.
Dana Taylor:
And how have opponents challenged that argument in court?
Sarah D. Wire:
Number one, they say that the executive branch has no role in local elections. The Constitution specifically says that the state should determine the time and date and procedure of elections. So they want to have that fight in court. And I know that's not what's happening right now, but they're prepared to have that argument. They're saying right now that there's not time to make sure that this could be put in place so that it doesn't affect the hundreds of millions of other voters, who want to cast their ballots using the absentee, become increasingly popular since the 2020 election. And you've got states like Washington State that vote almost entirely by mail.
Dana Taylor:
Who are the voters that election officials are most worried about here and what could this look like for them in practice?
Sarah D. Wire:
So they're most worried about people who are used to voting by mail. There've been a lot of studies done that show that once voters become used to a method of voting, it becomes difficult to keep them voting if that method changes. So you've got hundreds of millions of Americans who are so used to voting by mail at this point, they might be reluctant to change. The election officials I spoke to for this story said they've been encouraging people to use drop box instead of mailboxes, mailboxes already for almost a year now, but they're still concerned about turnout and that the ballots will actually get there. Never before has the Postal Service played a role in deciding who gets their mail and when. And so they're concerned about what that would mean for people's willingness to turn out and vote.
Dana Taylor:
Sarah, separate from this lawsuit, the Postal Services has already changed how some mail is postmarked. What changed? And why might putting a ballot in a mailbox on election day no longer mean that it's postmarked that day?
Sarah D. Wire:
For the last few decades, we've seen postal offices closing. We've seen what type of mail people send has really changed. They're receiving a lot more packages versus mail. And so back in December, the post office said that they can no longer guarantee that if mail is put in a mailbox, it will be postmarked that day. Instead, it will be postmarked at a sorting facility. In some areas of the country, that can mean two, three, four, five days will pass before the mail is postmarked. And so states and local election officials are really concerned because in some states you can drop that ballot in the mailbox on election day, and as long as it's postmarked by election day, it will be counted. And that's not every state. But at this point they're saying, "Don't rely on that postmark. If you have to vote on election day, walk into a post office itself and get it hand stamped. Otherwise, put mail into your mailbox up to a week before election day."
But a lot of election officials are telling me, "Rely on the ballot drop boxes. They're locked. They're emptied nightly, and that's one way to make sure that the ballot is counted."
Dana Taylor:
The Supreme Court could rule at any time... Sarah, what are the possible outcomes and what would each mean for the midterms?
Sarah D. Wire:
They could allow the rulemaking to go forward and the rules to potentially be put in place by November. This would mean an untested system would be used on election day. And a lot of the election officials say they're worried about that. There is a longstanding history of the courts not getting involved in election issues this close to an election. We'll see if that stands though. There have been a lot of precedents that have changed in the last few years.
Dana Taylor:
And finally, has the court given any indication as to how they might rule?
Sarah D. Wire:
No, they're pretty good at keeping their cards close, so, I think we're all waiting to see what they say.
Dana Taylor:
Sarah D. Wire covers national politics for USA TODAY. Sarah, it's always good to have you on.
Sarah D. Wire:
Thanks for having me.
Dana Taylor:
Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. If you enjoyed today's episode. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share USA TODAY's The Excerpt with your friends.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Voting by mail? You may need to plan ahead this election. | The Excerpt
