‘We’re All Flying Blind’: Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Fight Leaves Campaigns Guessing

The first states to send out mail in ballots for the midterm elections are set to start doing so this week, even as a federal legal fight raises concerns about what the Postal Service will do with those ballots. —Justin Sullivan—Getty Images The first mail-in ballots in the country should start going out at the end of this week.

It’s entirely possible that the Trump Administration’s fight over them won’t be settled for several more weeks—possibly right up to Election Day on November 3 or beyond.

The uncertainty is leaving campaign hands from both parties exasperated as they debate what to tell voters.

Even the possibility that some mail-in ballots may be ignored poses very practical questions for campaigns planning out millions of dollars in spending to boost turnout.

Should voters still trust mail-in ballots will still be counted? Should they instead vote early in person if they can? Should they hold their votes until Election Day itself, just to be sure? “We’re all flying blind,” says one Democratic campaign consultant.

“That’s the 8 million-vote question,” responds a Republican consultant when asked about how their party is adapting to the legal limbo.

For over a year, President Donald Trump has been laying the groundwork for the U.S.

Postal Service to take on a new role in deciding which mail-in ballots get to be counted, working off lists of citizens created by the Department of Homeland Security.

It’s a process that experts predict would likely lead to the disenfranchisement of many legitimate voters.

Most of them, it’s worth saying , are Democrats.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order that amounted to a procedural and preliminary win for Trump’s plan, but other courts have stepped in to block it on merits.

The result is growing confusion over how, exactly, the votes might—or might not—be counted come November.

Some election experts insist that things are not as urgent as either side would have you believe.

“I’m annoyed, but not freaked out,” says Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.