Last December, a new U.S. Postal Service rule took effect that could have a dramatic impact on this year’s elections and beyond, potentially invalidating thousands of mailed-in ballots.
The rule, proposed by Trump administration officials in August 2025, changes the meaning of a postmark. While a postmark confirms that the post office is in possession of a piece of mail, the rule says, the date “does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece.”
It’s a notable change from when a piece of mail was postmarked the day the Postal Service received it. The old system allowed voters in California and many other states to drop their ballots in a mailbox on Election Day, knowing their votes would count.
The new rule is seen as part of a broader attack by the Trump administration on vote-by-mail, which was used by more than 48 million Americans in 2024.
Donald Trump has repeatedly spread disinformation about the reliability of mail-in voting, calling it “crooked,” and has called for the practice to be banned. He issued an executive order in March calling for the establishment of state “citizenship lists” that he would seek to use, in the words of the States United Democracy Center, to “unlawfully grant the federal government control over who can vote by mail.” And in a case heard by the Supreme Court in March, the Trump administration has argued that states should be banned from counting late-arriving ballots — even those postmarked on or before Election Day. That case has not yet been decided.
What postmark rule means for June 2 primary election
As the Fair Elections Center lays out, the rule change may cause problems for thousands of eligible voters who cast their ballots by mail “because election officials in many states qualify mail-in ballots based on the postmark date,” California among them. An untold number of voters are now at risk of having their votes disqualified, the center says, “should their ballots be postmarked past the deadline — despite having mailed them prior to Election Day.”
California is one of 14 states that have grace periods, meaning ballots that arrive after Election Day are counted as long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day. “In these grace period states, even small delays in processing can result in voter disenfranchisement,” the center says. Military members serving abroad and the homebound elderly may be particularly affected, according to the center.
Voter registration could be impacted as well, the Fair Elections Center points out, as in California and 43 other states covered by the National Voter Registration Act, election officials are required to accept voter registration applications postmarked by the deadline — but not after. (The registration deadline for voting in the California primary was May 18, though conditional voter registration is allowed anytime on or before Election Day.)
So the new rule could impact who gets to vote in the first place.
How do I make sure my ballot is counted?
If you’re planning to drop your ballot in the mail, many election protection experts encourage you to mail your ballot as soon as possible, ideally a week ahead of Election Day, which for the June 2 primary would mean mailing it by Tuesday — or earlier, to be safe.
“Our big message is not to try to vote by mail on June 2 or shortly before, because the post office has already told you they’re going to be unreliable,” said Deborah Shefler, a board member and past president of the League of Women Voters of Oakland.
One way to avoid any risk is to drop your ballot in one of Contra Costa County’s election drop boxes, four of which are in Richmond: Contra Costa County EHSD, 1305 Macdonald Ave.; North Richmond Center for Health, 1501 Fred Jackson Way; Richmond City Hall, 450 Civic Center Plaza; and West County Wastewater District, 2910 Hilltop Drive. Every ballot delivered to a drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day will be collected by the registrar and counted.
You can also bring your ballot directly to a post office and ask the teller for a manual postmark, a hand stamp people often seek when mailing tax returns.
Lastly, you can simply show up to your polling site on Election Day and fill out a ballot there. The California secretary of state has an easy-to-use polling place lookup tool where you just type in your address.
Shefler encourages voters to check out the league’s voting information page and to sign up for BallotTrax, a free service from the California Secretary of State that tracks ballots.
