Justin Roebuck
Role at the time: County Clerk and Register of Deeds, Ottawa County, Michigan
Statement summary
Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck, a Republican, said the rule does not do what its political proponents claim, noting that USPS itself disclaimed any role in determining voter eligibility and left that responsibility with the states.
“I think what to me is ironic about the USPS rule set is that it actually doesn’t accomplish what a lot of people in the political sphere are talking about it accomplishing, which is somehow this idea that USPS would prevent ineligible voters from casting an absentee ballot.”
Interview with a Republican county clerk and prominent Michigan election-administration voice, disputing the anti-fraud characterisation of the rule from within the party that advanced it. He also says the Supreme Court decision was “so critical” for clerks to know the ground rules before the election, and notes USPS itself disclaimed any role in voter eligibility.
Why we used this label
Roebuck disputes the anti-fraud characterisation on which the rule’s defence rests, rather than arguing the rule should or should not apply in 2026. He points out that the rule set contains no assertion about screening ineligible voters and that USPS expressly left eligibility to the states. That is a challenge to how the measure has been described, which is the defining feature of this label. “Condemned” overstates it: he does not say the rule is wrong to exist, and he goes on to describe what clerks would need in order to comply if it returns before 2028.