Vote by Mail Tracking Act

The obligation shifted from making all federal election ballots nonmailable without a tracking barcode to only requiring that government entities furnishing ballot envelopes include the barcode. This narrows who is directly regulated.

A new exemption was added for Federal write-in absentee ballots under section 103 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), meaning those ballots are not subject to the barcode requirement.

The effective date changed from 'after the date of enactment' to a specific year: elections in 2026 and any succeeding year. This gives states more time to comply.

A new provision requires the Postmaster General to provide compliance information (including access to barcode generation tools) to government entities by June 1 of each calendar year.

The bill was restructured from adding subsection (p) to Section 3001 into creating a new Chapter 31 ('Election Mail') with section 3101, along with a clerical amendment to the table of chapters.

Language was added specifying that the barcode must be 'consistent with parameters that the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation,' giving the Postal Service discretion over technical specifications.