This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
New Hampshire’s chief election official has joined Republican colleagues in five other states asking the Supreme Court to stop the Trump administration’s proposed mail-in ballot rules from taking effect this year because it would cause too much confusion.
Election officials in Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Georgia and Kansas, as well as New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlon, warned in what is known as an amicus curiae letter to the nation’s highest court that Trump’s rules could disrupt the midterms.
“The principle rests on incontestable facts about voters and about the people who run elections: that late changes breed confusion, that confusion keeps eligible voters from voting, and that a chaotic election erodes confidence in the result,” they wrote.
Related: NH Secretary of State says it'd be difficult to comply with Trump order on mail-in ballots
The debate comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that made various changes to long-standing rules about mail-in voting. The U.S. Postal Service issued new rules in response to that order, but they have been blocked in part by the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
On Sunday, the Trump administration made a last-ditch plea to the Supreme Court to allow the USPS rules, leading to the response from Scanlan and others.
The proposed changes include the requirement that states share voter data with the U.S. Postal Service — something that Scanlan has adamantly opposed — as well as rules that could result in thousands of mailed ballots being rejected because of errors in a few of them.
The letter says the election officials take no position on the legality or policy goals behind the changes but says they cannot run the November election smoothly if they are forced to implement new rules on such short notice.
“In short, election officials’ plates are already full with the normal but crucial tasks of preparing for the election,” they said. “Attempting to implement this rule now significantly increases the risks of problems to the election.”
The letter was signed by Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, 26 local election officials in Georgia and Utah, as well as other election authorities.
Part of the problem is that Americans across the country are already voting. North Carolina sent out absentee ballots on Sept. 4, and federal law requires states to send ballots to military members and voters overseas by Sept. 19.
“In many respects, the election is already underway,” the letter said.
Nearly one in three voters used mail-in ballots in 2024. In some states, like Arizona, the majority of voters use ballot-by-mail to vote early.
Elections are administered at the state level, but Trump has made numerous attempts to take over how they are run nationwide. Critics have said that Trump’s main goal is to reduce confidence in midterm elections, therefore making it easier for the administration to change the voting process.
