Protecting and Expanding the Postal Service in the Face of Trump’s Attacks
By Katherine Jones, Advocacy Associate
Historically, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has been seen by the American public as one of the most favorable arms of the U.S. government. Unfortunately, changes have begun to tarnish its reputation due to partisan and corporate interests. The USPS Board of Governors must use its authority to protect this vital institution, which predates our nation’s founding and serves such an important role that it was enshrined in our Constitution.
Some of the harmful changes that Public Citizen and our partners in the Save the Post Office coalition have been fighting were put in place in 2020. We will continue to push to undo process changes that have left people across the country waiting longer to get deliveries and policies. For example, a clarification of an existing USPS postmark policy caused .
The newest attack on the Postal Service’s operations came directly from President Trump. On March 31, President Trump signed Executive Order 14399, which sought to impede mail-in voting by directing USPS to deliver mailed ballots only to voters on approved mail-in ballot lists and mandating use of special envelopes and tracking barcodes. The executive order was challenged by a numerous states and a coalition of civil rights organizations, concerned that the order mandated an untested and failure-prone system that would disenfranchise millions of voters.
The President’s directive aimed to use USPS for partisan purposes. And as directed by the executive order, the Trump-appointed Postmaster General, David Steiner, issued a final rule on mail-in voting to implement the President’s plan. States and civil rights organizations challenged the final rule as well. Two district courts quickly ruled that it could not be put into effect this year, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the government’s request to put the lower court rulings on hold.
Meanwhile, a whistleblower inside USPS revealed that the final rule would have been impossible to execute before the midterm elections.
Public Citizen, too, has used the courts to protect mail-in voting. In 2020, on behalf of NAACP, we (along with NAACP LDF) successfully challenged USPS changes to mail delivery that would have delayed and impeded timely delivery of mailed ballots in the general election that November.
Although the Supreme Court barred the Postal Service from implementing the rule in the November 2026 election, the fight isn’t over. The Court was unsure if the Postal Service had the authority to implement the rule and if the rule would cause irreparable harm to states and voters. The Administration, which continues to defend the USPS mailed-ballot rule in court, will likely push to implement the rule for the 2028 presidential election. The Board of Governors, which has authority over postal operations, should take action to rescind the rule and ensure that the USPS does not play a role in determining which voters receive ballots in future elections.
Public Citizen and our partners in the Save the Post Office coalition will educate our allies across the country about the threat posed by the USPS rule for future elections. While thousands of our supporters have already sent emails urging the USPS Board of Governors to rescind the vote-by-mail rule, we need as many voices as possible to speak up and call on the Board of Governors to scrap the rule once and for all.
In addition to defending against harmful changes to vote-by-mail, Public Citizen and our partners are steadfast in our advocacy to ensure that the Postal Service fulfills its obligation to provide “reliable, affordable, and universal” services to the American public. That will require us to fight privatization efforts that may price out low-income residents by raising prices or keep rural residents from receiving their mail in a timely manner by cutting service routes.
Beyond meeting its core responsibilities, USPS can and should be doing more for the American people. Considering the affordability crisis facing the nation and the gap in financial service access for low- and moderate-income populations, the Post Office should step in and provide low-cost, regulated financial service alternatives so that consumers are no longer forced to rely on predatory fintechs or big banks that charge high fees and keep vulnerable consumers in a debt cycle. The brick-and-mortar post office buildings are well poised to use the synergy they have with communities and build on their trusted position by providing fair financial tools to overlooked communities.
Because of the country’s postal service, college students receive packages from their loved ones, elders receive their medications, and small businesses are able to distribute products and contribute to commerce. We encourage the Postal Service and its Board of Governors to reject any attempt to make it a tool to disenfranchise voters in future elections, to ensure that the USPS remains a public institution that is not privatized, and to deepen the good it is doing in communities by expanding its services.