Durbin, Duckworth Join Letter Demanding USPS Uphold Federal Law Over President Trump’s Illegal Executive Order To Restrict Mail-In Voting

April 22, 2026
Durbin, Duckworth Join Letter Demanding USPS Uphold Federal Law Over President Trump’s Illegal Executive Order To Restrict Mail-In Voting
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and 32 of their Democratic colleagues in demanding the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) uphold existing federal law over the executive order signed by President Trump. The executive order, which has been challenged in the courts, would direct USPS to create and maintain “Mail-in Absentee Participations Lists” that would determine which voters are eligible to receive and cast absentee ballots through the mail. The order attempts to turn USPS into an election administrator and regulator, when it is supposed to be a nonpartisan agency whose only priority is to deliver the mail. This directive will have a negative effect on eligible American voters exercising their constitutional right to vote by imposing unnecessary barriers, and it would corrupt the independent mission of USPS to determine who can vote by mail.
“The Constitution provides no
role for the President in regulating federal elections. And no statute delegates to the President any authority to regulate elections or voter eligibility either, including via USPS,”
wrote the Senators.
“By issuing the executive order, however, the President is attempting to unconstitutionally consolidate power to personally regulate American elections.”
The Senators continued:
“These directives clearly infringe on the states’ and Congres
s’ constitutional role to regulate the manner in which federal elections are held and would deny eligible voters their ability to cast a ballot. The prohibition on transmitting ballots from individuals not on the absentee voter list acts as a ban on vote-by-mail for any state unwilling to share its absentee voter lists with USPS or any voter who happens to be excluded from the list. Furthermore, under this executive order, it is the Postal Service who will have the final say about whether to transmit a voter’s absentee ballots to election officials—granting USPS the ability to disenfranchise American voters.”
“For over 250 years, the Postal Service has bound our country together with a constitutionally
-
recognized mail service, and for 250 years, the American people have democratically elected their leaders. Any attempt to effectuate this order would violate the Constitution, break these bonds, and threaten the foundations of American democracy,”
the Senators concluded.
Joining Durbin, Duckworth, Schumer, Peters, and Padilla in sending the letter were U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Read the full letter
here.
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