Discussion · House of Representatives
Seth Magaziner Democrat
“A whistleblower revealed that the Trump administration told the Postal Service to stop mail-in ballots. Workers would check ballots against a secret list, and if one name does not match, thousands of ballots would not be delivered. This is illegal and untested. I am joining other lawmakers in court to stop this system.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a plot that threatens to undermine the security of the upcoming elections. A whistleblower has revealed that the Trump administration has directed the United States Postal Service to secretly build an untested, illegal system to intercept mail ballots on their way to State election administrators. It is a system that will disenfranchise thousands of American citizens and throw the November elections into chaos. The whistleblower reports that under this new system, the Trump administration is building their own list of who they think should be eligible to vote, and Postal Service workers will be required to scan bar codes on ballots to see if the voter appears on the Trump administration’s list, a list that has not been made publicly available. They admit that it exists, but they have not shown the list to the public. If just one bar code on just one ballot does not match a name on this secret list, then the whole batch of ballots numbering as many as 10,000 will not be delivered to the States to be counted. Think about that. Do we really trust the Trump administration’s secret list of who they think should be eligible to vote? And if one ballot is found not to match, should thousands of others also be seized? They are launching this system with no testing at all and with no time to identify and fix the bugs in the system. That is to say nothing of the fact that they are doing this illegally. They have defied multiple court orders telling them to stop. This secret system that they are forcing on the American people without the consent of Congress threatens to throw our elections into chaos. But the chaos is the point. President Trump knows Republicans can’t win the midterm elections on the merits--not with this economy, not with these tariffs, not with this war. The Republicans have given up on trying to earn the votes of most Americans, and instead, they are trying to ensure that votes do not get counted, unless the voters are on their secret list. Vote by mail is how millions of Americans, especially seniors, exercise their right to vote. President Trump even voted by mail himself just last month. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in American elections. We must ensure our elections are secure, and I am open to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do that, but launching an untested, illegal, last-minute system that can silently wipe out thousands of legitimate ballots is a recipe for disaster. I am joining a number of our colleagues in filing an amicus brief to stop this half-baked and dangerous attempt to interfere with American elections. When Democrats take back the majority, we will end this nonsense. We will fight for every Americans’ right to vote and defend our democracy from those who seek to undermine it from within.”
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a plot that threatens to undermine the security of the upcoming elections. A whistleblower has revealed that the Trump administration has directed the United States Postal Service to secretly build an untested, illegal system to intercept mail ballots on their way to State election administrators. It is a system that will disenfranchise thousands of American citizens and throw the November elections into chaos. The whistleblower reports that under this new system, the Trump administration is building their own list of who they think should be eligible to vote, and Postal Service workers will be required to scan bar codes on ballots to see if the voter appears on the Trump administration’s list, a list that has not been made publicly available. They admit that it exists, but they have not shown the list to the public. If just one bar code on just one ballot does not match a name on this secret list, then the whole batch of ballots numbering as many as 10,000 will not be delivered to the States to be counted. Think about that. Do we really trust the Trump administration’s secret list of who they think should be eligible to vote? And if one ballot is found not to match, should thousands of others also be seized? They are launching this system with no testing at all and with no time to identify and fix the bugs in the system. That is to say nothing of the fact that they are doing this illegally. They have defied multiple court orders telling them to stop. This secret system that they are forcing on the American people without the consent of Congress threatens to throw our elections into chaos. But the chaos is the point. President Trump knows Republicans can’t win the midterm elections on the merits--not with this economy, not with these tariffs, not with this war. The Republicans have given up on trying to earn the votes of most Americans, and instead, they are trying to ensure that votes do not get counted, unless the voters are on their secret list. Vote by mail is how millions of Americans, especially seniors, exercise their right to vote. President Trump even voted by mail himself just last month. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in American elections. We must ensure our elections are secure, and I am open to working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do that, but launching an untested, illegal, last-minute system that can silently wipe out thousands of legitimate ballots is a recipe for disaster. I am joining a number of our colleagues in filing an amicus brief to stop this half-baked and dangerous attempt to interfere with American elections. When Democrats take back the majority, we will end this nonsense. We will fight for every Americans’ right to vote and defend our democracy from those who seek to undermine it from within.