Trump’s new US mail voting rules take effect as states warn of midterm disruption

New US restrictions on mailed ballots took effect on Thursday, leaving state and local election officials racing to comply – or persuade a federal judge to intervene – weeks before millions of ballots are due to be sent to voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The US Postal Service rules require election authorities to assign unique bar codes to outgoing and return ballot envelopes, submit voters’ names, addresses and corresponding bar code information through a new federal portal, and obtain a review of their envelope designs.

The agency can refuse to accept an outgoing batch of federal election ballots if officials have not met the requirements, raising concerns that administrative or technical problems could prevent eligible voters from receiving their ballots.

The US Postal Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The requirements were adopted in response to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in March as part of his campaign to impose federal citizenship-verification and election-integrity measures.

The Postal Service said the changes would improve its ability to track individual ballots, increase the visibility of election mail as it moves through the postal system and help law enforcement identify potential fraud.