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U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner indicated to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters, D-Mich., during a Wednesday hearing that under a proposed rule, if a state declined to furnish the federal government with its absentee voter list, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would not mail election ballots in that state.
Peters asked Steiner whether, under the proposal, the USPS would mail ballots from a state that “refuses” to provide the federal government with the state’s absentee voter list.
“Under our proposed regulation, no,” Steiner said.
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David Steiner, postmaster general of the United States Postal Service (USPS), is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“All that does, senator, is make sure that we match the ballots that a state believes they’re sending out to what actually gets sent out,” he said.
Part of the proposed rule, which pertains to federal election balloting, would create a process in which states “will notify the Postal Service of the individuals to whom they are mailing a mail-in or absentee ballot, along with the unique barcode applied to the outbound and return ballot mail envelope for such individuals such that the name and barcode of the voter will be included on a Mail-In and Absentee Participation List,” according to the text of the proposal.
The states “may thereafter add to or modify the list of enrollees until the last day that ballots may be mailed out to individuals under state law,” the proposal notes, adding that “the Postal Service will provide to each state’s chief election official a final State-Specific Mail-In and Absentee Participation List for each state compiling the names of all enrolled individuals in such state, along with the barcodes associated with such individuals’ mail-in or absentee ballots.”
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Peters said the “effort by this administration to nationalize elections and have the federal government having this information is incredibly dangerous precedent.”
“We need to protect the integrity of the voting rolls. We need to protect the separation of elections from federal government and ensure that our state and local governments are the one administering their own elections,” he declared.
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Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
