Federal law guarantees them the
right to vote absentee, but 19 states do
not allow for electronic submission of
ballots. Election experts worry that
overseas voters might be left paying
high prices for private carriers to deliver
their votes, especially in state and local
races, which aren’t covered by the guar-
antee that the federal government will
cover postage for their ballots. “That’s
tantamount to a poll tax,” said a Demo-
cratic aide to the House Administration
Committee, which has been looking into
mitigating fallout from a withdrawal.
There won’t be much time to iron
out the kinks, with 2020 primaries just
months away and several states holding
important elections this November. Bal-
lots are usually sent to overseas and mili-
tary voters 45 days before Election Day.
This year, that’s Sept. 21—three days be-
fore the UPU meeting in Switzerland.
“It’s uncertain what’s actually going
to happen until ballots are already in the
hands of the voters,” says Keith Ingram,
president of the National Association of
State Election Directors.
The White House and State Depart-ment declined to answer specific ques-
tions on how military and election mail
would be handled in the event of with-
drawal, but Navarro said that there
would be no “interruption” for overseas
voters or troops, thanks to preparations
that began as soon as Trump announced
his intention last fall, and that there
would be “no additional cost” for over-
seas voters in the event of an exit. The
Postal Service also declined to answer
detailed questions about its preparations
but said it was making “parallel efforts to
ensure the continued exchange of inter-
national mail items.”
Yet despite the confidence pro-
jected by the Trump Administration,
the Postal Service warned the mailing
industry in a June presentation in Wash-
ington that it would likely see changes
to its “geographic coverage” if the U.S.
pulled out, according to presentation
materials and recordings obtained by
TIME. The USPS and the Federal Vot-
ing Assistance Program, the Defense
Department office that helps manage
overseas voting, told election officials
at a conference in August that the U.S.
was focused on establishing agreements
to ensure that mail delivery continues
with 17 priority nations, according to
Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at the
Democracy Fund who serves as the
USPS liaison for the National Associa-
tion of Election Officials.
Those countries are expected to cover
about 70% of Americans abroad. That
means more than 1 in 4 U.S. citizens liv-
ing overseas could be in a country with
no agreement facilitating mail between
them and the U.S.
The State Department said it’s “ready
and eager to constructively engage with
other reform- minded partners” at the
meeting in Geneva, but emphasized the
U.S. would achieve its goal of setting its
own rates “whatever the outcome” of the
meeting. In either case, the once quiet
world of international mail may be quiet
no longer.
For Glenz, the uncertainty has
made her more eager than ever to get
her ballot in the mail. “The ability to
vote is the cornerstone of a democ-
racy,” she says from Germany. “This is
my one tiny golden hammer, and I’m
not giving it up.” —With reporting by
mAdeline roAche/london at the U.K.-based courier company
Parcel Hero. “It could be an absolute
free-for-all, and every country will have
to fight its corner and set its own rates.”
For now, there’s widespread disagree-
ment about what will happen if the U.S.
withdraws without new bilateral postal
agreements in place. Major trade part-
ners are unlikely to refuse to deliver
American mail, but a spokes person
for the European Commission said
withdrawal could have a “significant
impact” on customs treatment of mail
from the U.S. bound for the European
Union. Mere confusion could leave let-
ters languishing in foreign post offices.
Major business groups are eager for
the reform the Administration is push-
ing, but many are wary of the upheaval
of fully withdrawing from the UPU. For
U.S. troops, mail is handled by the Mili-
tary Postal Service Agency, so it should
be largely unaffected—but military
families and contractors could be. And,
as Election Day approaches, officials
are unsure what to tell the estimated
3 million potential overseas voters.
13