Ro Khanna raises alarm over Trump's secretive new midterm move

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Ro Khanna is raising fresh concerns about President Donald Trump's effort to change how mail ballots are handled ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

In a video posted on X on Wednesday, September 9, the California Democrat accused Trump of putting political pressure on the US Postal Service and said Congress must protect the authority of state and local officials who run elections.

His comments come as a USPS whistleblower's warning about a new ballot system has prompted an independent review by the agency's inspector general.

Trump order reshapes USPS role

Khanna's video focused on a March executive order directing the Postal Service to develop new procedures for handling mail-in and absentee ballots.

Under the order, states could notify USPS that they planned to send ballots through the mail and submit lists of eligible recipients.

The order also directed the Postal Service to develop a process involving voter participation lists and unique ballot envelope identifiers, including barcodes. 

It further proposed that USPS not transmit mail ballots to individuals not enrolled through the new system.

“Who made the Postal Service the arbiter of who is a citizen and who gets a ballot?” Khanna said in his video.

He also linked the election dispute to Trump's broader political agenda, accusing the president of breaking a promise to avoid further wars and arguing that Trump was now trying to protect his party before the midterms. 

The White House has described the executive order as an effort to strengthen citizenship verification and modernize the handling of mail ballots.

Whistleblower raises system failure concerns

The issue gained urgency after an anonymous whistleblower raised concerns about the computer system USPS has been developing to implement the proposed rules.

According to a disclosure made public by Sen Richard Blumenthal, the whistleblower warned that the system was being built on an unusually short timeline and had not received sufficient testing. 

The whistleblower also raised concerns about a “zero percent failure” approach that could lead to an entire batch being rejected if a sampled barcode could not be scanned or matched properly.

Khanna referenced those warnings in his video, saying the system could lead to a “catastrophic failure.”

That phrase originated in the whistleblower's concerns, not in an official USPS finding.

The Postal Service's Office of Inspector General has since said it will independently review the allegations surrounding the proposed mail-voting rules.

What this could mean for voters

The dispute is now playing out alongside legal challenges over whether the administration can impose the new requirements before November's congressional elections.

A federal judge blocked enforcement of the rules, while the Trump administration has sought intervention from the Supreme Court. 

State election officials have also warned that implementing major procedural changes close to an election could create practical problems for voters and election workers.

For Americans who vote by mail, the outcome could determine whether their state's current ballot process remains unchanged or whether new federal postal requirements take effect.