The Supreme Court has temporarily cleared a major legal hurdle for Trump’s Executive Order 14399 targeting mail-in voting — but SCOTUS did not rule on whether the order itself is constitutional or lawful. In its August 24 decision, Trump v. California, the Court said the states challenging the order had not established the legal standing necessary to block it at this stage. Other court orders still prevent the full implementation of the EO, leaving the rules — and their impact on the 2026 elections —far from settled.
Trump’s anti-mail-in ballot order directs the creation of state citizenship lists and calls for the US Postal Service to develop new procedures. The order states: “USPS shall not transmit mail-in or absentee ballots from any individual unless those individuals have been enrolled on a State-specific list.”
In this episode of the Election Crimes Bulletin, investigative reporter Greg Palast and Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein examine what these changes could mean for voters, election officials and the Postal Service. Palast argues that relying on inaccurate and incomplete government records to verify citizenship could create barriers for millions of eligible voters, while new USPS requirements could introduce confusion and logistical problems just weeks before ballots begin moving through the mail.
The half-hour discussion goes beyond the immediate court ruling to ask a larger question: What happens when major changes to the way Americans vote are introduced so close to an election — and what can voters do to make sure their ballots are counted? Listen to the full Election Crimes Bulletin on Podbean or your favorite podcast platform.
Learn how to Save Your Vote at SaveYourVote.org
TRANSCRIPT
Bernstein: Let’s start with the Supreme Court. What are the implications of their decision, short-term, long-term, and what the hell can you do about it?
Palast: The implications, certainly long-term… I don’t know what you call the election, long-term or short-term — or the final term. It will be devastating. Let me break this into two pieces.
The Supreme Court punted on the main cases: Did Donald Trump break the law? Was it a constitutional parking ticket or was it a hit and run? And they haven’t decided that. They could back off and say, “Well, he’s violating the Constitution of the United States.” They haven’t made that final ruling. So right now, the papers have kind of exaggerated, it is a procedural ruling.
But here’s what the story is: Agent Orange issued an executive order saying that the Post Office could not deliver ballots created by local government to anyone unless that person is on a list of citizens. Here’s the problem. We are not the old Soviet Union or Red China. In America, we do not have a citizenship list. It does not exist. We don’t have one. The danger is that they’ll use the list, the cockamamie limited list that they have that says you’re a citizen. For example, passports are your main proof of citizenship. So, if you spend your winters skiing in the Alps, you have a passport. Two out of three Black people do not have a passport. So, they’re going to use passports and that’s going to greatly whiten and brighten the voter rolls.
Second, your social security administration does have some citizenship records, but not all of them. Your social security number is not a proof of citizenship nor your driver’s license nor even your military records. Basically they’re going to whiten and brighten the voter rolls, and they’re going to make it very difficult for millions of people of color to get their ballots. Here’s why that’s important: 70% of African Americans vote by mail or by dropping off their mail-in ballot at the early voting stations — 70%. So, when they’re knocking out and impeding mail-in voting. Whose mail-in vote are they blocking? Well, voters of color, and that color generally is blue.
Bernstein: Well, we’re happy to be proactive in dealing with what’s clearly going to be a meltdown. There are many variations on a theme here, Greg. Many things that could happen, many things could go terribly wrong. What are some of your concerns? Where could this go?
Palast: Complete chaos. Because the Post Office has no idea how to handle an election issue on this type of deadline. Just programming those computers would normally take months. I don’t care if you use Claude or Maude, you’re going to have complete chaos. People are not going to be getting their ballots. And they don’t want them to, because the mail-in ballot has flipped from 50 years ago from Republican to Democratic, because people of color have learned if you line up in Dayton, Ohio, you could be in that cold November wind outside for five to six hours. I was there when that happened. But you go down to Toledo, the white suburbs, and they walk in, they get hot chocolate, no line…
They know whose vote they’re chipping away at. They know whose vote they’re creating an obstacle to. This is devastating. And if this doesn’t get corrected in 2028 we might as well write our ballots on feathers.
Listen to the full Election Crimes Bulletin on Podbean or your favorite podcast platform.
