In Kern County, about 9 out of every 10 voters who cast a ballot in the June primary used a vote-by-mail ballot, making a now-blocked U.S. Postal Service rule change especially significant for the region.Only about 32 percent of registered voters in Kern County cast a ballot in the June primary. Of those, the overwhelming majority voted by mail, underscoring how central the process has become to local civic participation.The Trump administration proposed new requirements that would have required state election offices to use scannable envelopes, assign a unique barcode to each voter, and provide basic voter information through a USPS portal. Outgoing mailings that failed to meet those standards could have been returned before reaching voters.The administration said the requirements would make federal ballot mail easier to identify and help detect fraud.The Supreme Court left a nationwide block on the rule in place. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that USPS may have the authority to create the rule, but that local election officials did not have enough time to implement it before the 2026 elections.Ian Anderson, an adjunct professor of political science at Taft and Bakersfield College, said the ruling does not permanently strike down the proposed requirements."The really sad thing that we see is that a majority of Americans, even locally, are not casting ballots and they're not participating."Anderson said the court's decision came down to feasibility, not legality.For Bakersfield residents Spencer McNabb and her father, Josh, voting by mail is about fitting civic participation into two very different schedules."I'm busy all the time. I'm a student, so I'm going to classes all the time," Spencer McNabb said.Her father works in the oil industry, where the end of a shift is not always predictable."I've always voted by mail because I work in the oil industry, and there's no set time when I get off work," Josh McNabb said.Though the court rejected the proposed change, it did not permanently strike down the rule it only blocked it from taking effect for the 2026 elections. The larger legal fight over the USPS rule is not over.For now, California's current vote-by-mail process will remain in place for November.Anderson encouraged Kern County voters to track their ballots and find their local representatives at kernvote.com, and to contact their elected representatives directly if they have opinions on the proposed federal requirements.Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less