Postal Service Ruling Changes the Legal Route for Election-Mail Disputes

Kentucky ballots must reach county clerks by 6 p.m. on Election Day, while one federal complaint process allows up to 90 days for an initial agency decision.

Jul 15, 2026

The U.S. Post Office in Fisherville, Kentucky. A July 14 federal appeals ruling changed where states must begin one type of challenge to nationwide Postal Service decisions. Kentucky mail-in absentee ballots must reach county clerks by 6 p.m. on Election Day. Photo by Nyttend, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

On July 14, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a federal court judgment that had restricted the U.S. Postal Service from eliminating late or extra mail transportation trips without first requesting review by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins. The judges held that New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, New York City, and San Francisco had brought one of their legal claims in the wrong forum. Under federal postal law, the court said, the claim had to begin with the Postal Regulatory Commission rather than a federal district judge.

The court changed the legal route for one type of challenge to nationwide Postal Service decisions.

It left unresolved whether a federal district court could still provide emergency relief when a postal change threatens an immediate injury, such as ballots arriving after a state’s counting deadline.

That distinction is important in Kentucky. Mail-in absentee ballots must reach the voter’s county clerk by 6 p.m. local time on November 3, 2026. A timely postmark does not extend that deadline.

What Happened

The case began with operational decisions made by the Postal Service during the summer of 2020, under then-Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

The Postal Service reduced employee overtime, removed some high-speed sorting equipment, eliminated late or extra transportation trips, and changed the order in which some carriers sorted and delivered mail. The agency did not first request an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission.

A late or extra trip serves a straightforward purpose. When mail misses a scheduled truck, an additional trip can carry it to the next processing facility rather than leaving it until the following scheduled departure.

New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, New York City, and San Francisco sued in August 2020. They argued that the changes threatened public services and the ability of residents to vote by mail during the approaching presidential election.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction in September 2020. In 2022, the court entered a permanent injunction barring the Postal Service from eliminating late or extra trips without first requesting the Postal Regulatory Commission review required by federal law.

The federal government appealed. The D.C. Circuit’s July 14 ruling concluded that the district court lacked jurisdiction over that particular claim. The appeals court directed the district court to dismiss it, eliminating the legal foundation for the permanent injunction once the appellate judgment is implemented.

The ruling gives the Postal Service no new authority to delay ballots and does not decide whether the 2020 operational changes were lawful. The judges resolved which federal body had to hear the states’ procedural claim first.

A 90-Day Federal Window Meets a 6 p.m. Ballot Deadline

Federal law requires the Postal Service to request an advisory opinion before making a change in the nature of postal services that will generally affect service nationwide or across a substantial part of the country.

That requirement appears in 39 U.S.C. § 3661. Before issuing its opinion, the Postal Regulatory Commission must provide a hearing opportunity for the Postal Service, mail users, and a Commission officer representing the public.

The advisory opinion creates notice, evidence, and public participation before a major change. It does not give the Commission a simple veto over every Postal Service proposal.

When an interested person, state, or local government believes the Postal Service has violated postal law, it can file a formal complaint under 39 U.S.C. § 3662. The Commission must take an initial action within 90 days by either opening a proceeding or dismissing the complaint. Failure to act within that period is treated as a dismissal.

The Commission’s 90-day deadline governs its initial response, not the completion of the case.

A formal complaint may require evidence, legal arguments, Postal Service responses, hearings, and a final Commission order.

A party dissatisfied with the final order has 30 days to seek review in the D.C. Circuit. The appellate court reviews the record developed before the Commission rather than beginning the case with new evidence.

The Commission can order the Postal Service to comply with federal law and remedy a violation. It can also impose fines for deliberate noncompliance. Filing a formal complaint, however, resembles administrative litigation and often requires legal assistance. The Commission itself describes the procedure as complex.

The July 14 opinion says this route generally replaces an immediate district-court lawsuit when the claim alleges that the Postal Service failed to request a § 3661 advisory opinion.

The Court Left an Important Question Open

The states argued that a 90-day administrative window could not protect voters when an election was only weeks away. The appeals court rejected a broad rule allowing parties to bypass the Commission whenever they alleged irreparable injury.

The judges limited that conclusion in a footnote. Because the appeal concerned the district court’s final 2022 judgment, the panel declined to decide whether the federal review process would prevent all meaningful judicial relief at the preliminary-injunction stage.

The opinion specifically acknowledged that some immediate injuries may be impossible to repair after delayed review. That leaves room for future arguments regarding an upcoming election, although the ruling does not specify which claims, facts, or remedies would qualify.

Future litigants will need to distinguish between a claim that the Postal Service skipped an advisory opinion and a separate claim alleging an immediate constitutional or statutory violation. Courts will decide those boundary cases on a case-by-case basis.

The 2020 Record Shows How Quickly Mail Can Slow

The Postal Service Office of Inspector General examined the operational changes after members of Congress requested an audit.

The Inspector General found that postal executives had developed 57 initiatives intended to save an estimated 64 million work hours. Many changes were communicated orally, applied inconsistently, and implemented without a complete analysis of their effect on mail service.

During July 2020, on-time performance for single-piece First-Class Mail fell from 90.1 percent to 79.7 percent. Performance for presorted First-Class Mail fell from 92.2 percent to 82.9 percent.

Delayed mail recorded at processing facilities increased from 2 billion pieces during the week ending July 10 to 2.4 billion pieces during the week ending July 31. Delayed mail reported at post offices increased from 4.7 million pieces to 11.4 million pieces over the same period.

The Inspector General did not attribute every delay to a single management decision. The COVID-19 pandemic, employee absences, and increased package volume also affected service. The audit found that the operational changes contributed to the decline and that management had not adequately studied the risks before implementation.

The Postal Service has also demonstrated that election mail can be delivered successfully when special procedures are used. For the 2024 election, USPS reported handling approximately 99.2 million ballots, with 97.73 percent delivered to election offices within three days and 99.88 percent within seven days.

The agency reported an average ballot-delivery time of approximately one day. It used special pickups, additional deliveries, local transportation, and dedicated sorting procedures during the election period. Those national figures do not provide county-level Kentucky results, but they show that staffing and transportation decisions directly influence performance.

Operational choices inside the Postal Service can determine whether a legally valid ballot reaches a county clerk on time.

Why This Matters in Kentucky

Kentucky law gives a late ballot no comparable waiting period.

The State Board of Elections says every mail-in absentee ballot must reach the county clerk by 6 p.m. local time on November 3. Drop boxes will be available in every county, and the Postal Service recommends placing completed ballots in the mail no later than October 27.

Kentucky permits mail-in absentee voting only for eligible voters. Those voters include students temporarily living outside their home county, military and overseas voters, people temporarily outside Kentucky, qualifying older or disabled voters, people receiving inpatient treatment, address-confidentiality participants, and people held in jail before conviction.

Many cannot easily respond to a delayed ballot by visiting a polling place. A hospitalized voter, a student living in another state, or a Kentuckian stationed overseas may have no workable replacement after the mail deadline has passed.

County clerks carry the immediate operational responsibility. Kentucky law directs clerks to issue eligible voters their ballots, maintain records of ballots sent and returned, use certificates of mailing or individual tracking labels, and issue a replacement when a requested ballot has not arrived within a reasonable time.

The July 14 ruling does not require Kentucky to revise those procedures. It changes what Kentucky officials may have to do if a future nationwide Postal Service decision threatens timely delivery.

A claim alleging failure to seek a Postal Regulatory Commission advisory opinion would generally need to begin at the Commission. Kentucky officials would need evidence, legal analysis, and a prepared filing rather than assuming that a district judge could immediately hear that specific claim.

The task for Kentucky is preparation before a disruption, not litigation after ballots have missed the deadline.

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Rural Kentucky Has an Additional Reason to Track Postal Changes

Kentucky’s rural counties rely on longer transportation routes, smaller post offices, and regional processing facilities. A transportation or processing change can add time before the mail reaches its final destination.

In January 2025, the Postal Regulatory Commission reviewed a proposed phase of the Postal Service’s Delivering for America plan. The Commission found that rural communities would experience disproportionate service downgrades and estimated that 49.5 percent of ZIP-code pairs for single-piece First-Class Mail would receive slower service standards under the proposal it reviewed.

The Commission also found that the Postal Service lacked a reliable method for measuring performance at the five-digit ZIP-code level. That limitation makes it harder for a Kentucky county to determine whether a local delay reflects an isolated incident or a broader network decision.

Those findings do not establish that Kentucky’s 2026 ballots will be delayed. They identify a documented rural vulnerability as the state prepares for an election with a strict receipt deadline.

What You Can Ask and Do

Ask the State Board of Elections to publish a written 2026 election-mail plan before the absentee-ballot portal opens on September 19. The plan should identify the Board’s Postal Service liaison, the procedure for reporting delays, the data used to monitor delivery, and the steps available when a county identifies a pattern.

Request records from the State Board covering communications with the Postal Service about the 2026 general election. Useful records would include meeting notes, contact lists, written escalation procedures, service-performance reports, and instructions sent to county clerks.

Contact your county clerk and ask four specific questions:

When will your county begin mailing absentee ballots?
How can voters track outgoing and returned ballots?
What procedure applies when a ballot does not arrive?
Where will the county’s drop box be located, and when will it be accessible?

The State Board maintains an online directory for all 120 county clerks.

Ask the Postal Service Board of Governors’ Strategic Government Services Committee to publish its 2026 election-mail preparations. The Board accepts inquiries concerning its duties at BOG-Inquiries@usps.gov, and its next listed open meeting is scheduled for August 7.

Track the Postal Regulatory Commission’s public dockets. Anyone can read Commission orders, evidence, transcripts, and comments online. Members of the public may submit comments in notice-and-comment proceedings, while participation in formal complaint hearings requires additional filing steps.

Voters eligible to use a mail-in absentee ballot should request it early, return it promptly, and check its status. Kentucky voters who are concerned about delivery time can use their county drop box rather than relying on a ballot mailed close to Election Day.

The July 14 ruling makes advance preparation more important. A legal complaint can document a violation and produce an order, but no court or federal commission can restore an absentee ballot after Kentucky’s counting deadline has passed.

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