The presidential executive order requires states to provide a list of who is receiving mail-in or absentee ballots and only use envelopes with specific bar codes.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says postal officials could then decide whether or not to deliver the ballots:
“If you voted by mail you will have it on the envelope, obviously not on the ballot, but on the envelope. So we will know...a million mail-in ballots, there will be a million envelopes...and you will be able to know exactly, correctly, that citizens voted.”
But Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters, ranking member on the committee that oversees the Postal Service calls it a – quote – “illegal power grab” by President Trump that would allow the federal government to usurp state’s authority to administer elections.
The proposed order is being challenged in court.
