Thinking about Elections

MAIL-IN BALLOTS - PANIC! There’s always some level of panic about how close to election day voters can mail their ballots back so their ballots will arrive in time. There would be no panic if more voters knew that the US Postal Service (USPS) expedites election mail. USPS handles official election mail* as a special category. Mail-in ballots are separated upon arrival at the post office and treated differently than regular mail. For example, on Election Day, USPS has several deliveries of mail ballots to the election office. This means that in the final days before an election and on election day itself, a voter can bring their mail ballot to the Post Office or a mailbox with an early pick up. The ballots will be delivered to the election office in time.

USPS tracks election mail at each step as it is handled. There's a data feed with time and date when it is sorted, put on a truck, etc. (The data feed is available and could be put in ballot trackers so voters could see their ballot moving along.)

* Election mail comes from authorized election officials: voter registration forms, mail ballots, etc. It is not political mail that comes from campaigns.

Read the USPS Post Election Report on their performance in the 2023 Midterm Elections:

https://about.usps.com/what/government-services/election-mail/pdf/usps-2022-post-election-analysis.pdf

https://about.usps.com/what/government-services/election-mail/