# USPS The **U.S. Postal Service (USPS)** is the government corporation that delivers universal mail to every U.S. address — a self-funding entity (it runs on postage, not appropriations) with a constitutional pedigree and a large unionized workforce. Governed by a presidentially appointed Board of Governors that selects the Postmaster General. For the KB, the USPS is the recurring **privatization-and-board-politicization** flashpoint. It combines a universal-service mandate, a powerful union, a chronic financial squeeze, and — uniquely — a central role in [[Mail-in Voting]], which made it a target of election conspiracizing. Proposals to privatize the service or fold it into another department, and fights over the board and the Postmaster General, keep it perpetually contested. ## Leadership [[David Steiner]] — former Waste Management CEO and FedEx director — has been **Postmaster General and CEO since July 2025**, the 76th holder of the office. He was selected by the Board of Governors, not nominated by the President or confirmed by the Senate; that selection method is the Postal Service's principal structural insulation from the White House. ## The 2026 turn: from carrier to gatekeeper In 2026 the Postal Service acquired a function it had never held. Under [[Executive Order 14399]] of March 31, 2026, and the final rule **Ballot Mail for Federal Elections** (91 FR 54966, published August 26, 2026), USPS will **refuse to accept a state's federal ballot mailings** unless the state has first passed envelope design review and uploaded per-mailpiece data into the [[USPS Federal Ballot Mail Portal]]. Historically USPS issued only *recommendations* about election mail. The rule makes them conditions of acceptance. The agency's own preamble states that "[c]onsiderations of Postal Service independence are not relevant to this rulemaking" — a government corporation disclaiming the insulation described above. The program has been enjoined, stayed, re-enjoined and restrained repeatedly since June 2026, and is the subject of an August 2026 whistleblower disclosure alleging that development continued in defiance of a court order. See [[USPS Federal Ballot Mail Portal]] for the sequence. ## See Also - [[Government Corporations Hub]] - [[Federal Agencies]] - [[USPS Federal Ballot Mail Portal]] · [[Executive Order 14399]] — the ballot-mail gatekeeping program - [[David Steiner]] — the current Postmaster General - [[Voter Suppression]]