Postal unions and Democratic secretaries of state are urging the U.S. Postal Service to rescind a mail-ballot rule issued after a March executive order from President Donald Trump, according to a States Newsroom report carried Thursday by 10 affiliated outlets, after the Supreme Court blocked the rule only for the 2026 midterms^1,3,5,7.

The report said the rule would require states that want ballots sent through the mail to notify USPS at least 90 days before a federal election and, at least 60 days before, submit a list of voters planning to vote by mail^1,3,5.

Eight states run all-mail elections, the account said, and the University of Florida Election Lab counted at least 33.9 million mail ballots in the November general election^1,3,6.

American Postal Workers Union President Jonathan Smith said at a Tuesday news conference in Washington that a policy he said threatens public confidence in Postal Service neutrality should not remain in place while courts weigh its long-term status^1,7.

Chelsey Wininger, executive director of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, said at the same event that the order tries to force federal control over who can receive a ballot in the mail^1,5.

Democratic-led states have argued in lawsuits that the rule encroaches on state authority to run elections; U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction, and the Supreme Court later blocked implementation for this year without settling the rule for 2028, the report said^1,5,7.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the midterm stay, wrote in a concurrence that there was a fair prospect the rule falls within Postal Service authority, according to the account^1,3,6.

Republican officials in 11 states, led by Missouri, had urged a federal judge not to pause the rule; Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins wrote in an August court declaration that it would help bolster mail-voting security and reduce fraud risk, the report said^1,4,7.

USPS wrote in its August Federal Register notice that the rule does not make the agency an election administrator and that states retain control over voter rolls and who votes by mail; it declined States Newsroom questions Thursday, citing pending litigation^1,5,8.

The White House and Hoskins office did not comment this week, the report said; a Tuesday USPS Board of Governors meeting did not discuss the rule, and Postmaster General David Steiner praised election-mail performance without addressing the regulation^1,9,10.