The quiet new way Trump is trying undermine the 2026 elections

Under convicted felon/President Trump — the first president who ever tried to overturn an election — the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has quietly changed the longstanding rule about the timing of postmarks to a new rule that could easily disqualify large numbers of mail-in ballots across the country.

The rule regarding the timing of postmarks has always been that when you drop off your ballot, tax return, payment or letter in a mailbox, or mail it at the post office, it gets postmarked the same day you mailed it. This matters because many states require ballots to be postmarked by election day to qualify to be counted. Under Trump’s new rule though, you could very well mail your ballot well before election day but not have it postmarked until after election day, disqualifying it from being counted.

On December 24, 2025, the USPS quietly changed the rule for the timing of postmarking mailed materials to the date a piece of mail actually get processed at a postal facility, instead of the date it gets put in a mailbox. This change will affect whether time-sensitive mail is considered as being on time or not.

The change is part of Trump’s effort to delegitimize mail-in ballots by arguing the method is ripe for fraud and an unreliable method of voting. It will also give cover to MAGA-aligned government appointees and politicians to demand the disqualification of hundreds of thousands of legitimately-cast ballots by saying they were mailed too late to count.

Trump’s war on mail-in ballots

In an August 18, 2025 social media post, Trump wrote,

“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS…Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM. ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS. I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS. THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!!  

Trump has never provided any evidence, data or proof that demonstrates mail-in voting is in any way unreliable or “dishonest.”

On September 2, 2025, Trump announced he was moving the Space Force out of Colorado to Alabama, saying his decision was linked to Colorado’s mail-in voting system. Trump said, “The problem I have with Colorado — one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting, they went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections, and we can’t have that.” He added, “When a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections, because that’s what that means. So that played a big factor also.”

So what recourse do people have?

You can ask the Post Office to hand-postmark your ballot or other mailed item the same day you mail it, but that’s not realistic or practical for most people, since it involves going into the Post Office and spending time waiting in line — lines that could get very long around election day. You can also mail your ballot very early — at least a week before election day — or circumvent the Post Office entirely by using a drop box provided by your local government or county clerk’s office to collect ballots.

You can also complain to your Republican elected representatives about the change. CD-3 House Rep. Jeff Hurd’s Washington, D.C. phone number is (202) 225-4676. Most elected Democrats probably already oppose the rule change because they deal in reality and facts, not unsubstantiated claims.