One rule is dead for November: The fight over when your ballot counts has just started.
Highlights:
The Supreme Court declined to lift an injunction against the USPS ballot-mail rule, keeping its mandatory barcode, envelope, and voter-data requirements from taking effect for the November 3 midterms. The litigation itself continues.
Meanwhile, Congress has three Ballots by Election Day Act bills pending—H.R. 10276, S. 5355, and S. 5001—that would require federal-election ballots to arrive by poll closing time. California also enacted SB 259, creating criminal penalties for certain interference with mail-ballot delivery.
For voters: Know your state's deadlines, mail early if using USPS, or use an authorized drop box or other available return method.
Hi Friend,
Picture a ballot envelope sitting in a sorting bin in September. It has the right stamp, the right address and a voter's signature.
Under the rule USPS finalized in August, official ballot envelopes would have needed a USPS-compliant barcode, and noncompliant ballot mail could be refused.
That rule is blocked for now. USPS finalized the rule in August, but courts blocked it before it could govern the November 3 election.
Ballots are already moving through the mail while the rules around them keep shifting. The postmark on your envelope may not even show the day you mailed it. The deadline for your ballot to arrive depends on which state you live in.
Here's what happened, and the three bills trying to settle it.
What Just Happened
March 31: President Trump signed Executive Order 14399, directing USPS to write new rules for ballot mail in federal elections.
June 29: In Watson v. RNC, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that states may count ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive afterward. Justice Barrett wrote the opinion. That kept "grace periods" legal in 14 states and D.C.
August 21: USPS released its final rule. States would have to use barcoded official envelopes, give 90 days' notice before using mail voting, and send lists of mail voters to a new federal portal 60 days before an election. Ballots without the barcode could be refused.
August 27 and September 13: Two federal judges blocked the rule. Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts reinstated an order halting it. Judge Carl Nichols in D.C. found USPS went beyond its rulemaking power.
September 14: The Supreme Court denied the administration's emergency request in USPS v. California. The rule will not apply to the November 3 midterms. Its long-term future is still being fought in court, including at the First Circuit.
Why this pertains to you
Blocking the rule doesn't resolve the underlying question: who decides when a mailed ballot counts? Congress, the states and the courts are each answering it differently. The quiet problem through all of it is the postmark. Under USPS's postmark rule, the date stamped on your envelope can reflect when the mail was processed, not when you dropped it off. In grace-period states, that date can decide whether your ballot counts.
California
SB 259: Criminal Penalties for Interfering with Mail Ballots
Issue: Makes it a misdemeanor to interfere with a mail ballot's delivery to a voter, and a felony when the person doing it has authority to direct others.
Status:Signed September 19, 2026 (Chapter 331). It was an urgency statute, so it took effect immediately. It passed the Assembly on August 28 and the Senate on August 30. It was one of 13 election bills signed the same day — an "election protection" package.
Next Action: Effective immediately. The law expressly applies in time for the November 3 general election.
Why we're watching: The law was written with the USPS rule in mind and was deliberately accelerated during the final stretch. How those provisions interact with conflicting federal directives, if such a conflict occurs, could become a federalism question for the courts.
Issue: Directs the Secretary of State to run a $100,000 public awareness campaign on how USPS postmark rules could get ballots rejected, and to study where drop boxes are placed.
Status:Passed the Senate 30–9 on June 18, 2026. It is now in the Assembly State and Local Government Committee. The identical Assembly bill is A4863.
Next Action: No committee hearing date set.
Why we're watching: New Jersey law makes the postmark significant for ballots arriving after Election Day. The bill would warn voters that a ballot mailed on Election Day could receive a later postmark, explain how to request a manual postmark, and point voters to drop boxes as an alternative unaffected by USPS postmarking.
Issue: Amends the Help America Vote Act so ballots in federal elections must be received by the close of polls on Election Day to be counted. Protections for military and overseas voters stay in place.
Status:Three versions, all in committee. Sen. Ashley Moody filed S. 5001 on July 15. Sens. James Lankford and Mike Lee filed S. 5355 on August 6. Rep. Laurel Lee filed H.R. 10276 on September 3, and it went to House Administration. The Senate bills went to Rules and Administration.
Next Action: No hearing set. The House version would take effect for federal elections starting in 2027.
Why we're watching:Watson left the deadline up to each state, and The bills would replace the current state-by-state approach with a federal receipt deadline for federal elections. A single receipt deadline would eliminate post-Election Day receipt windows for covered federal ballots, while leaving the actual canvass and counting process to continue under applicable law.
Access the full bill tracker
What you can do before November 3:
Mail your ballot early, well before your state's deadline.
If you mail close to the deadline, ask the clerk at the counter to hand-cancel it so the postmark shows that day's date.
Use a drop box or return it in person if your state allows it.
If your ballot is delayed, refused or mishandled, report it to your county elections office or your Secretary of State. Contact law enforcement if it's needed.
That ballot is still sitting in a sorting bin somewhere. It doesn't need a federal barcode this time.
Whether it counts will still come down to two things: the date a machine stamps on it, and the state it's headed to. For now, California, New Jersey and Congress are each giving a different answer.
Check the status of every bill in this issue on LegiTrack, and share this with someone who votes by mail.
Ever onward -
P.S. Want to start now? Head to LegiTrack.org, pull up the voting-issue bills from your state, and see where they stand. That's step one.
