Senate Committee Exchange: Proposed Rule Could Block Mail Ballots if States Withhold Absentee Lists

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, a witness identified as Roop said the Postal Service would not mail absentee ballots under a proposed regulation if states refuse to provide absentee-voter manifests.

The discussion began when a committee questioner asked, “So, yes or no, if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposal, Roop?” Roop replied, “Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest in order to…,” adding that the Postal Service would require that documentation to proceed.

The questioner said that response meant the rule would “basically coerce 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.” The questioner warned that some states, including Oregon — which the questioner said conducts elections fully by mail — could be prevented from permitting mail voting if they declined to provide the requested lists.

The exchange included an objection that the proposal effectively asks states to “trust the federal government, trust the Trump administration,” and that denying mail-ballot service to noncompliant states would make it so “people cannot vote by mail,” a result the questioner called “unacceptable.”

The transcript does not record a committee vote or further procedural action on the proposed regulation during the exchange, nor does it record a formal response from other committee members. The next procedural steps were not specified in the provided transcript.