Election officials raise alarm over implementing new mail voting rules before midterms: “Virtually impossible”

Updated on: September 3, 2026 / 3:45 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — As legal battles over the U.S. Postal Service's new regulations for mail ballots move forward, state and local election officials are raising concerns about the logistical hurdles they will have to surmount to implement the requirements just weeks before the November elections.

Mail ballots will go out to voters in several states in mid-September — and by Friday in one — leaving election officials with little time to make the changes that the Postal Service is calling for, if the rule is allowed to take effect. In Wisconsin, clerks in two municipalities have already sent out ballots, since state law allows them to do so as soon as the results of the primaries are certified.

The Trump administration has said the rule imposes "modest informational requirements" on states and localities, and "should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail."

But numerous top election officials are warning that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy the new requirements, saying they would impose significant financial costs and strain resources.

"The bottom line is that it is effectively impossible for these requirements to be implemented…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/healthwatch/