We will take the win — even if the result should have come sooner as wholly obvious. The U.S. Supreme Court majority, finally, did the right thing Monday amid unprecedented election shenanigans: It rejected the Trump administration’s scheme to use the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to essentially screen mailed ballots, using a janky federal voter database that itself is suspect and being contested.
Thankfully, at least for the upcoming midterms, the ruling shuts down additional turmoil that the USPS disruption would’ve wrought, just weeks from the Nov. 3 general election. The legal uncertainty so close to the election and the logistical nightmare over ballot integrity had loomed especially large over Hawaii and seven other states that conduct voting nearly entirely by mail. Further, all 50 states have some form of absentee mail-in balloting — in fact, voting by mail has already begun in some states including Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
The Supreme Court ruling, for now, disallows a USPS plan directed by President Trump’s executive order: The plan called for the postal service to deliver only ballot envelopes with bar codes that had been created using state-provided voters’ names and addresses. The federal compulsion of states’ voter rolls is under legal challenges, rightly, since the Constitution mandates election operations to the states and Congress.
If the high court had not ruled as it did, it’s estimated that thousands of legitimate ballots would have been disrupted or discounted, due to outdated, spotty or otherwise faulty voter rolls. That would’ve been a true misrepresentation of voters.
All this manufactured chaos stems from Trump’s oft-repeated misinformation that mailed-vote fraud is rampant and led to his 2020 presidential loss to Joe Biden — despite that being repeatedly debunked, and even though Trump himself votes by mail.
The cruel irony, of course, is that ostensible “voter fraud” has been used as a means to sow confusion and doubt over ballot integrity. Further, the pointed assault on mail-in balloting, by trying to co-opt the USPS to gatekeep the election process nationwide, will likely deter and disenfranchise many who otherwise would have voted. Voters cannot let that happen.
The best way to now affirm the value of democracy is for residents to make a vigorous effort to register to vote, then cast a ballot when the time comes.
Hawaii’s election calendar calls for registered voters to receive their ballots on or by Oct. 16. Universal mail-in voting here was launched with the 2020 election, for ease of voting, better convenience and accessibility. That came just five years after Hawaii enacted same-day voter registration, allowing residents to sign up and vote on the same day. It is easier than ever before to vote for elected leaders and to input on ballot measures that will dictate policy — and there will be many proposed amendments in this general election.
Even if the recent legal wrangling over mail ballots has raised doubts, that must not stop anyone who’s entitled to vote from voting. Voter service centers statewide open on Oct. 20 — more have been added this election year — so Hawaii residents can cast in person; or, mark your ballot in the comfort of home, then deposit it into one of the many secure drop boxes across the state (view the list of sites at elections.hawaii.gov/voter-service-centers-and-places-of-deposit).
Hawaii — indeed, the nation — can breathe a sigh of relief that the Supreme Court has blocked the USPS from restricting mailed ballots, for now. Even this court realized the sheer madness of upending mail-ballot operations so close to the elections. But continued vigilance is required. Other legal ploys remain in play, as do other attempts to undermine states’ elections.
Noted Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa: “The (Trump) administration’s motivation is to just introduce a lot of uncertainty and potentially chaos into the election that then could later be used to question the results.”
Voters must remain steadfast — both in rejecting nefarious attempts to upend free and fair elections, and in turning out to vote. That is, after all, the American way.
