Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration is attempting to implement a new rule that would stop the United States Postal Service from collecting mail-in ballots in some states.
During a hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Postmaster General David Steiner was pressed on the rule proposed by the Trump administration, which seeks to restrict the collection of mail-in ballots from states that have refused their requests for voter rolls.
Democrats on the committee argued that the USPS did not have constitutional authority to enforce such a rule, but Steiner pushed back, arguing it was necessary for a fair election.
"I would think that states would want the information to ensure that the ballots that they think they're sending out are the ballots that are actually getting sent out," Steiner argued.
The proposed rule comes as Trump has long claimed – without evidence – that mail-in voting is rampant with fraud, and he has vowed to tackle the problem ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Critics have argued that the president – who has made a habit of calling elections he and his allies have lost "rigged" – is attempting to give the federal government unprecedented control over elections.
In November, Republicans will fight to maintain their razor-thin majority in the House and Senate. If Democrats manage to regain power, it will make it difficult for Trump to push his agenda forward for the remainder of his term.