Ballots for the November election are set to go out within weeks, even as California remains tangled in a legal fight with the Trump administration over efforts to limit universal mail-in voting. That standoff has left some voters wondering whether mail-in ballots will even be an option this fall — and whether they can trust the system if they are.
The short answer, according to state and county election officials: Yes, voters can still cast ballots by mail, and the process remains safe and dependable. Still, officials are urging Californians not to wait, encouraging early submission ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
At the center of the confusion is a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision that could determine whether President Trump can direct the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail ballots before the midterms. Trump has proposed creating a federal database of registered voters that the Postal Service would use to verify eligibility before delivering ballots. Under his plan, the agency could refuse to deliver ballots in states that don’t share voter data.
The legal fight has dragged on for months, leaving many voters — and even some election officials — confused about what to expect. Voting rights advocates say that confusion may be intentional.
Despite the uncertainty, California election officials insist the state is ready to run its election smoothly no matter how the courts rule. County registrars are tracking the litigation closely, but they’re also moving ahead with plans to mail ballots by the state’s Oct. 5 deadline. Officials are encouraging residents to prepare early and consider alternatives to the mail, such as ballot drop boxes and in-person voting locations, if they have concerns about postal delivery.
“Like we do for all of our elections, we have contingency plans or disaster plans put into place,” said Tricia Webber, Santa Cruz County’s clerk and registrar of voters, who also leads the California Association of County Election Officials.
Some counties — including Santa Cruz and Los Angeles — are looking into setting up temporary voting stations where residents could request and turn in ballots on the spot. In Santa Cruz County, Webber said officials are also considering deploying their mobile voting unit to give residents another way to cast a ballot.
“Until there’s an answer,” Webber said, referring to the pending Supreme Court decision, “California counties are doing business as usual.”
**What Trump wants USPS to do**
The controversy dates back to March, when Trump signed an executive order attempting to give the federal government oversight of who receives mail ballots. More than 20 Democratic attorneys general, including California’s Rob Bonta, quickly sued, arguing the Constitution grants election authority to states and Congress — not the executive branch.
Lower federal courts sided with the Democratic-led states, issuing a temporary injunction that has so far blocked the Postal Service from acting on the president’s directive. But the broader legal questions remain unsettled. Last month, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to continue developing its implementation plan, prompting Democratic states to file a new round of legal challenges.
The Postal Service’s finalized proposal, released in August, calls for tracking each mailed ballot using a unique barcode that would be checked against a database of eligible voters.
While some states worry they may need to redesign ballot envelopes if the rule survives legal challenges, Webber said most California counties already use compliant envelopes.
A major hurdle remains: the federal government doesn’t currently maintain a complete list of eligible voters and would depend on states voluntarily submitting data to a so-called “federal ballot mail portal” that hasn’t yet been built.
Whether that system could even be operational in time for this year’s midterms is in question. According to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office, a Postal Service whistleblower described the rollout as rushed and warned that skipped testing procedures could lead to a “catastrophic failure” capable of disrupting the midterm elections.
“In an effort to meet impossible deadlines, USPS has eliminated standard and needed testing, thereby creating substantial risk of a ‘catastrophic failure’ of the system that could ‘derail the midterm elections,'” Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner in late August.
Steiner told a congressional committee in June that the Postal Service intends to withhold ballots in states that refuse to share basic voter information — including names, addresses and ballot barcodes.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the state’s top elections official, has not indicated whether California would comply with such a request.
“California’s elections officials will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that every eligible California voter has the right to cast a mail ballot and have that vote count,” Weber said.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department sued Weber and five other Democratic secretaries of state after they declined to hand over unredacted voter files — information far more sensitive than what the Postal Service rule would require. A federal judge in Southern California dismissed that lawsuit in January.
**Confusion could push more voters to act early**
In an unexpected twist, anxiety over the Postal Service’s reliability may accomplish something election officials have long hoped for: convincing more Californians to vote earlier rather than waiting until the final days.
That marks a shift from the run-up to June’s primary, when nervous Democratic voters were urged to hold off on choosing a gubernatorial candidate until the last possible moment. Now, social media is filled with posts encouraging people to vote as soon as possible and to rely on drop boxes instead of the mail.
“This whole play may backfire,” said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation. “What you’re seeing now on social media in response to this court drama and this confusion are lots of people urging their friends to vote early — and that’s exactly what we’ve been saying.”
Earlier voting helps county election workers process ballots more quickly on election night, which in turn allows outlets like The Associated Press to call races sooner. Because ballots that arrive by mail take longer to process than those dropped off in person, submitting them several days before the deadline gives election workers a head start on removing ballots from envelopes and preparing them for tabulation.
“Fortunately, we give voters lots of options, and that’s really going to work to California’s benefit,” Alexander said. “Other states do not have the kind of robust process that creates lots of redundancies and avenues for voters to vote.”
Original source: CalMatters
