Postal Service's rushed ballot system at risk of mass errors, insider says

An unidentified whistleblower alleges the U.S. Postal Service built a complex voter-verification portal in just three months, a process that normally takes over a year, and that a single scanning mistake could prevent tens of thousands of mail ballots from reaching voters. The system is part of President Trump's executive order on mail voting, which a federal judge has temporarily halted. The disclosure comes as North Carolina prepares to send out its first mail ballots on Friday.

The whistleblower account, released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, describes a voter-verification portal developed in roughly three months despite a typical build time exceeding a year. The system requires states to submit approved voter lists and compliant envelope designs before the Postal Service will deliver ballots. A single scanning error in a large batch could block tens of thousands of envelopes from reaching voters.

The timeline is especially tight because North Carolina begins mailing ballots Friday, and the Supreme Court recently cleared the way for implementation after a lower court blocked it. Brookings research cited in the article found mail ballot fraud occurs in roughly four cases per ten million ballots cast, while more than 29 percent of 2024 voters used mail voting.