U.S. Postal Service officials were set to meet publicly with Washington state lawmakers Monday as the agency considers a sweeping rule change to add federal oversight to mail-in voting.

But the Postal Service representatives canceled just hours before they were set to appear before a state House panel, said the committee’s chair, Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma. Mena said the federal officials stated they’d “improperly confirmed” participation in the meeting.

The Postal Service acknowledged an inquiry about the situation from the Standard, but didn’t immediately provide comment.

The rule proposed this month would require state election officials to share with the Postal Service a list of mail-in voters. It also sets new conditions for states to send ballots via mail, including design of the envelopes.

“States would retain full control over who would (or would not) be able to vote by mail in federal elections within each state,” the rule says.

This is the latest in Trump’s long-running crusade against mail-in ballots.

Oregon, Washington among states suing to block Trump’s vote-by-mail executive order

Democrats, who in other states more often vote by mail than Republicans, see it as an intrusion on elections, which are run by states. Critics of the plan also say adopting the changes so close to the November elections could cause chaos.

Proponents of the new rule say it would help improve integrity and trust in elections.

There’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Washington.

The Washington Legislature established vote-by-mail as an option for all elections in 2005. By 2011, 38 of 39 counties in the state had switched to this system, and the Legislature adopted it as a statewide requirement.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs called the new federal proposal “an unnecessary rule” that “does nothing to provide security in our elections.”

“Once again, we’re seeing federal overreach that threatens to undermine the rights of eligible voters and override states’ authority over elections,” Hobbs said in a statement earlier this month. “This is clearly another attempt by the Trump administration to exercise authority they don’t have.”

In March, the president signed an executive order that precipitated the new policy. The order directed the Postal Service not to provide mail-in or absentee ballots to states that don’t comply. And election officials could be prosecuted for providing ballots to ineligible voters. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and many of his counterparts in other states have sued over the order. A judge has declined to block it.

Public comments on the rulemaking proposal are being accepted until July 2. The executive order seeks a final rule by the end of July.

Washington is one of more than a dozen states with a grace period to continue counting ballots, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

A Trump order last year sought to require completed mail ballots be received by election officials by Election Day to be counted, but courts struck that down.

Now, a pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court could limit the window when ballots can be counted after Election Day. A decision could come within days, said Katy Owens Hubler, director of elections and redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

US Supreme Court could end Oregon’s practice of accepting ballots after Election Day

The ruling could result in a “bifurcated system” between federal elections and state and local races, Hubler told the committee, as the case focuses on campaigns for federal offices, like Congress. States could allow ballots to be received after Election Day for non-federal races.

In Washington’s 2024 general election, hundreds of thousands of votes were accepted that arrived after Election Day, but with the required postmark. The system takes longer to report final results.

Trump has also pushed legislation in Congress to restrict mail voting, but it has stalled.

Washington is also the subject of an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit as the Trump administration seeks access to the state’s voter rolls, including sensitive personal information. Similar suits in other states have been dismissed. A hearing on Washington’s request to dismiss the case here is set for August.

Democrats in the Washington Legislature this year passed a law to protect voter rolls. The law prohibits county election officials from sharing voter registration records. Instead, they must direct requesters to the secretary of state’s office. Sensitive voter information also can’t be provided without authorization.

Meanwhile, also on Monday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled the Trump administration’s use of a Department of Homeland Security program to check for noncitizen voters “trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.”

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/23/postal-service-vote-mail-washington-meeting/