A U.S. Postal Service official has filed a whistle-blower report alleging that the agency is moving forward with a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement President Trump’s order exerting federal control over mail voting, despite a court order blocking those plans. The report, published by Senator Richard Blumenthal, claims the “risky and haphazard” implementation could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in the mail ballot system ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The agency had planned to complete the new digital system overseeing mail ballots by Sept. 1.

“Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all,” the official said in the report, prepared with assistance of Whistleblower Aid. Senator Blumenthal stated that the main takeaway is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans, noting one-third of Americans cast ballots by mail.

The Supreme Court had allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with the executive order, reasoning a lawsuit was premature. But days before the court ruled, the Postal Service formally published a new plan to comply. Judge Indira Talwani temporarily blocked the plan, concluding it overstepped legal mandate and could spark chaos. Work on the system continued even after the order, the report said, raising concerns about verification failures.