Whistleblower warns Trump order creates chaos in ballot mail processing

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released an anonymous whistleblower complaint Tuesday alleging USPS rushed development of a new ballot-verification portal without adequate testing ahead of the November midterms.

• 54 million mail-in ballots were delivered by USPS during the 2022 midterms.
• 29% of all voters cast ballots by mail in the 2024 presidential election.
• The portal was built in roughly three months, including a one-month pause during court proceedings.
• One failed barcode scan in a batch of 10,000 ballots would reject the entire batch, per the complaint.

Why it matters: The portal gives USPS authority to refuse ballot mailings that state election officials have already approved — a role the agency has never held before.

• No clear process exists for state officials or voters to challenge a rejected ballot, according to the whistleblower complaint.
• North Carolina was already set to begin mailing ballots Friday, before the portal was ready for use.

How 22 sources split on this story

Where they split: Whether the complaint reveals a genuine threat to ballot delivery or is an unverified, worst-case-scenario account timed to influence ongoing litigation.

What’s next: Judge Talwani holds a hearing Thursday on a longer preliminary injunction against the rule.

• The administration is seeking emergency relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to lift Talwani's 14-day block.
• Has USPS continued portal development in violation of Talwani's court order, as the whistleblower alleges?
• What testing, if any, has USPS conducted on the portal before its planned launch?
• Will the administration implement a process to notify voters whose ballots are rejected and allow them to challenge those rejections?