Mail-in voting is a new norm. Is the US Postal Service up to the job?

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With less than three weeks until the election, mail-in voting is underway. But election officials around the country have raised concerns about the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to handle election mail and deliver absentee and mail-in ballots in time to be counted.

In some places, election officials earlier this year flagged primary ballots that were postmarked on time, but received by election offices after the deadline to be counted. In other jurisdictions, election mail returned as undeliverable can automatically get voters placed on the inactive list.

Why We Wrote This

Delivering mail in a timely way is the essential function of the U.S. Postal Service. In a contentious election year with widely available mail-in voting, the stakes are raised. Officials are calling on the Postal Service to address reliability concerns.

Election officials are sounding the alarm, and local Postal Service workers point to a recent consolidation plan as the source of many problems.

As it has in years past, the Postal Service is taking “extraordinary measures” for Election Day, including expedited handling, extra deliveries, and special pickups for election mail.

“We want to identify, and not conceal, to the public some of our concerns. On the other hand, we want to assure people who are voting by mail that their ballot will be transmitted,” says Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state.

With less than three weeks until the election, mail-in voting is underway. But election officials from around the country have raised concerns about the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to handle election mail and deliver absentee and mail-in ballots in time to be counted.

In some places, election officials earlier this year flagged primary ballots that were postmarked on time, but received by election offices after the deadline to be counted. In other jurisdictions, election mail returned as undeliverable can automatically get voters placed on the inactive list – even if they properly addressed their ballots.

Election officials sounded the alarm in a letter last month, and local Postal Service workers point to a recent consolidation plan as the source of many problems.

Why We Wrote This

Delivering mail in a timely way is the essential function of the U.S. Postal Service. In a contentious election year with widely available mail-in voting, the stakes are raised. Officials are calling on the Postal Service to address reliability concerns.

“Over the course of the last year, election officials across the country have raised serious questions about … the Postal Service’s ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner,” reads a Sept. 11 letter to Postmaster General Lewis DeJoy from the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors.

“We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns,” the election officials wrote, citing concerns over processing facilities, lost or delayed election mail, and staff training. The issues remained unresolved after an Oct. 1 meeting with Mr. DeJoy, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Nationwide, mail delays have grown even as access to voting by mail has increased. Nearly 97% of voters around the country will have at least one option to vote before election day, whether by in-person early voting or by mail, according to the Center for Election Innovation & Research.

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