Administration Unveils New Mail-In Rule: Ballots Must Arrive Before They're Sent
Officials say the policy technically complies with the Supreme Court's block while ensuring no ballot can ever be processed.
Following the Supreme Court's refusal to lift a federal judge's hold on new mail-in ballot rules, the administration announced a revised policy it says fully respects the ruling: ballots must now be received by local post offices before voters mail them.
"We heard the Court loud and clear," said a spokesperson, adjusting a stack of forms that appeared to be blank. "Nothing in this rule restricts anyone's ability to vote by mail. It simply requires that the mail already have happened."
Election officials in several states reported spending the morning trying to explain the sequencing problem to constituents, without success. One clerk described drawing a flowchart that eventually just pointed back to itself.
The administration maintains that the rule is not a restriction but a scheduling clarification, and has proposed a companion measure requiring voters to have already received their voting confirmation before casting a ballot, to save time.
A spokesperson for the postal service, asked whether any ballot could satisfy the new timing requirement, requested a moment to consult with the ballot, then with the requirement, then adjourned the call to attend a meeting about when the meeting should have started.