Wyden, Oregon Delegation Demand Postal Service Rescind New Rule Suppressing Mail-In Voting

Lawmakers: New rule is calculated attempt to undermine mail-in voting and suppress voter turnout ahead of the November election

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, Maxine Dexter, Janelle Bynum, and Val Hoyle, today demanded the U.S. Postal Service rescind its proposed rule that would limit mail-in voting to federally registered voters.

The rule would require state elections officials in Oregon and other states with vote-by-mail to provide the federal government with detailed voter lists including names, addresses, and unique barcodes for all individuals who vote by mail. Mail-in ballots would then only be provided to voters registered with the federal government, posing clear federal overreach of all states' constitutional right to manage their own electoral systems. If a state refuses to turn over its voter rolls, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mail-in ballots under the proposed rule.

"The state of Oregon has relied entirely on mail-in voting since 1998," the Oregon lawmakers wrote in their letter to Postmaster General David Steiner. "Our vote-by-mail system has proven itself, time and again, to be safe, secure, and reliable. Despite continued claims by Donald Trump that mail-in voting leads to higher cases of voter fraud, states that use it experience fewer instances of voter fraud than any other system."

Under the new rule, all current registered voters would be required to re-register with the federal government ahead of the election this November. In their letter, Oregon's congressional delegation stressed this requirement imposes logistical hurdles that would suppress voter turnout, especially in states like Oregon that conduct its elections entirely by mail.

The letter can be found here.