3 takeaways:

• In March, President Trump issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit ballots only to voters on the list.
• In August, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit to block the rule that disenfranchises voters.
• Throughout the uncertainty, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes reassured Arizona voters via press release, “nothing has changed.”

Voting remains one of a few ways individuals can let their voices be heard locally and nationally.

With election season already underway, Arizona officials have been busy clearing up some recent proposed changes from the Trump administration.

The proposed changes began earlier this year in March, when the Trump administration issued an Executive Order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters while directing the U.S. Postal Service to transmit ballots only to voters on the list. During a speech in July, President Trump called mail-in ballots “inherently corrupt.”

The following month, President Trump voted by mail in Florida. He also voted by mail in Florida during the 2022 election.

Fontes Tells Arizonans ‘Nothing Has Changed’

Locally, Arizona officials have repeatedly stated no changes will be made to the state’s mail-in ballot system. In August, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a coalition of 25 states in filing a lawsuit to block the Executive Order that disenfranchises voters.

Disenfranchisement is when political decisions and actions are made and implemented which prevent people from voting or having their votes counted. One example of disenfranchisement is gerrymandering, which is when election officials divide and rearrange land into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections.

The 15th amendment prohibits disenfranchisement.

“The Constitution is crystal clear: states run their elections – not the postal service and not the President,” said Mayes via an Aug. 26 press release.

Additionally, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes echoed similar remarks, stating no changes will be made to Arizona’s election system.

“There is going to be a lot of noise around this issue,” Fontes said in a Aug. 24 press release. “Don’t let rumors determine how you participate in our elections. Get your information from trusted sources. And if you vote by mail: receive it, vote it and return it.”

He added, “The most important thing for Arizona voters to know today is simple: nothing has changed.” On Aug. 31, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) submitted a letter to Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer David Steiner due to his office receiving an email from a whistleblower at United States Postal Service. Blumenthal serves as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Investigations.

In the letter, the whistleblower revealed the USPS’s plans of creating a potentially unlawful mail portal which restricts mail-in voting by gatekeeping and allowing the USPS to be able to refuse to mail ballots that state election officials have approved and determined to be sent out.

These efforts are considered unlawful because a court order required the USPS to not interfere with individuals’ right to vote, including by mail. However, the USPS continued creating their mail portal on Aug. 26, against court orders.

United States Postal Service’s Federal Ballot Mail Portal

According to the whistleblower, the efforts conducted by USPS to create the new Federal Ballot Mail Portal are “rushed,” because of an impossible timeline. In the whistleblower’s disclosure to Blumenthal, Postal Regulatory Commissioner Tom Day commented the standard process for an effort of this complexity “could take one year or more to complete.”

The USPS began creating the mail portal system on June 15, 2026, about five months before the Nov. mid-term elections.

As a result of the rushed process, the USPS has been unable to conduct quality control tests to ensure the portal’s accuracy or proper functioning. In Senator Blumenthal’s letter, he revealed the new USPS portal has undergone zero basic checks.

“Put plainly: this process will likely lead to chaos, confusion and the inability of many Americans to have their vote counted,” said Blumenthal.

Additional court hearings and litigation will continue throughout Sept., as coalitions and election officials continue clearing up confusing changes led by the Trump administration.

As it stands right now, Arizona should not see any changes made to their mail-in voting system for this November’s election. Both Mayes and Fontes have stressed time and time again Arizona voters will still be able to vote by mail in this upcoming Nov. election.

O’odham Action News will continue to monitor this topic.