WASHINGTON, September 30 — David Steiner, the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, faced renewed scrutiny over his role in implementing an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump that sought to restrict mail-in voting. The order, signed in 2020, prompted Steiner to move quickly to finalize a USPS rule to carry it out, citing limited discretion as an independent agency within the executive branch.
After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the effort to enforce the mail ballot restrictions, Steiner told The Associated Press that work had halted on one of the plan’s most controversial components: a government portal for voter rolls. Steiner declined to endorse the executive order as sound policy, emphasizing his focus on implementation and leaving legal determinations to the courts.
“I don’t get to decide what rules that are put on us that I decide to accept or not accept,” he said, affirming the Postal Service’s status as “an independent agency of the executive branch.” His comments came during a lengthy interview with the Associated Press, in which he expressed surprise at the intensity of the political reaction in Washington, underscoring the tension between his institutional duties and the politicization of mail voting amid national debates over election integrity.
Before leading the Postal Service, Steiner was CEO of Waste Management and publicly criticized Trump’s leadership style during a 2007 speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
He stated, “If that is leadership, if that’s what we’re telling people that our culture and our media portrays as leadership, we’re screwed,” and added, “And for God’s sake, if I have to get my hair to look like that, if I have to do that to be a leader, you can definitely count me out.” Critics, including Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, labeled Steiner a “Trump lackey,” while Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, also a Democrat, urged Congress to deploy observers to monitor postal workers scanning mail-in ballots, alleging the Trump administration attempted to “weaponize federal agencies to interfere in our elections.” Senator Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., accused Steiner of being a Trump “pawn” during a congressional hearing, and dozens of congressional Democrats pressed him to disclose his interactions with the White House during the rule’s development.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri criticized Steiner over reports of abandoned mail, called for his resignation, and introduced legislation to block him from receiving a bonus. The backlash highlighted the broader stakes of placing federal agencies at the center of electoral controversies, with Steiner caught between institutional obligations and partisan pressures. As the 2026 election cycle advances, the durability of USPS neutrality and the limits of executive influence over independent agencies remain under close watch.
