OLYMPIA — Today, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs announced that Washington is joining a multi-state lawsuit seeking to quickly halt the U.S. Postal Service’s final rule on federal ballot mail before the 2026 midterms.
“It’s clear that the federal government is trying to take over our elections,” Secretary Hobbs said. “We are prepared to fight every step of the way to stop that from happening.”
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court lifted one of two injunctions blocking implementation of the USPS rule and other provisions of the March 31 Executive Order that seek to impose new restrictions on mail-in voting weeks before the midterms. The Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Executive Order, instead determining the injunction was premature because the rule had not been finalized.
The final rule, published today, immediately places significant burdens on county elections offices and the Office of the Secretary of State ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
“Right now, our focus should be on delivering a secure, accessible and accurate election for citizens,” said Secretary Hobbs. “Instead, we are fighting the federal government who is trying to turn our safe and secure election system upside down for no benefit.”
The USPS rule would impose extensive costs at a time when the state and counties are already experiencing financial hardship. Among other requirements, counties would have to destroy and replace over 5 million ballot envelopes they have already printed for the November General Election.
The rule also requires that states add all voters who will be mailed a ballot in each federal election to a ballot portal operated by the USPS. The USPS would require the voter’s name, mailing address, and a unique Intelligent Mail barcode for each voter’s outgoing and return ballot envelopes. To send ballots to voters, county election officials would have to validate the compliance of each ballot envelope at the post office, taking less than a minute per ballot envelope by the USPS’s own estimates. This would amount to over 9.5 years’ worth of time to send ballots to the more than 5 million Washington voters who will receive a mail ballot. The rule is clearly designed to discourage and burden vote-by-mail.
“There is no reason to do this. Voter fraud is exceedingly rare and does not impact the outcomes of our elections,” said Secretary Hobbs. “No matter how many times the federal government repeats the lie, it does not make it true.”
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