Raffensperger, Georgia election officials warn Supreme Court that new mail ballot rules could cause chaos

Georgia election officials say it is too late to change how mail ballots are handled before the November midterm elections.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and 15 other current and former Georgia election officials joined a filing Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent new Postal Service ballot rules from taking effect for the Nov. 3 election.

The Georgia officials are among 38 current and former election administrators from 10 states who signed the brief. They joined in their individual capacities and said they support neither side in the case.

The officials argued that there is not enough time to redesign ballot envelopes, add unique barcodes, create compatible voter lists and train workers to use a new federal ballot portal.

"Attempting to implement the rule now will almost certainly lead to mistakes, delays and confusion for both voters and election officials," they wrote in the Supreme Court filing.

Some states have already begun mailing ballots. Georgia sends out its mail-in ballots on Sept. 15th. Federal law also requires states to send ballots to military members and other overseas voters by Sept. 19.

Officials said many ballot envelopes have already been printed, and some smaller election offices lack the equipment or staff to meet the new requirements. They also said the federal ballot portal has not undergone enough testing.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to let the Postal Service enforce the rule after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked it. The rule would require states to provide the Postal Service with lists of mail-ballot recipients and place unique barcodes on outgoing and return envelopes. Ballots that do not meet the standards could be rejected by the Postal Service. 

The election officials did not take a position on whether the Postal Service has the legal authority to impose the requirements. They asked the Supreme Court to leave the existing rules in place for this year's midterms while the broader legal dispute continues.