As election day approaches, postal workers are reminding the public that voting by mail is a secure and convenient way to exercise their democratic rights.
Some voters have expressed concern after the USPS published a rule at the White House’s insistence that could have disenfranchised many voters and threatened to delay ballots. However, the Supreme Court’s decision on Sept. 14 has set aside the proposed rule for the current midterm elections. The election will take place under the previous vote-by-mail rules.
With social media rumors swirling, postal workers remain dedicated to their role as public servants, delivering the mail, no matter who it comes from or who it goes to.
The election is an important logistical event for the USPS, but it is not a big one. In 2024, a presidential election year, the Postal Service moved 48 million ballots to and from elections, but the USPS moves around 361 million mail pieces in an average day. General elections ballots were returned from voters to election officials within a day, on average. Some 97.73 percent of ballots were returned by the USPS within three days.
In the 2022 midterms, the average return time for a ballot was less than two days and 98.96 percent of ballots were received within three days.
Voters should return their ballots early, track them, and have confidence that they will arrive at their destination.
This is an important message to spread because there’s reason to think that without vote-by-mail, many citizens will run out of time to cast their vote or be put off by long lines or the difficulty of getting to a polling place on election day – or even early voting day.
That is why increasing the availability of vote-by-mail. It is estimated that when states hold all-mail elections, it increases turnout by around 2 percentage points on average – equivalent to millions of voters nationwide in a presidential election year.
Voting by mail allows citizens to cast their ballot at a time that’s more convenient and return it via the USPS, with offices and collection points in every community. It gives voters time to research complicated ballot questions or candidates in down-ballot races.
So, as voters consider how to exercise their democratic rights, the clear answer from postal union members is that they should use the most convenient method for them, including voting-by-mail.