Amid USPS scrutiny, postmaster general says agency is prepared for election mail

State election officials, members of Congress and former President Donald Trump are raising concerns about the Postal Service’s ability to deliver mail-in ballots on time in November.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy however, is pushing back, telling state election officials USPS is well-equipped to handle mail-in ballots this election season.

Postal worker unions are also defending USPS preparations for Election Day.

DeJoy, in a letter to the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State, said recent shakeups from USPS network modernization “will not have an impact on Election Mail, and we have committed to limit network changes to avoid any unintended disruption in service for the upcoming election and peak season.”

USPS saw regional drops in on-time mail delivery in areas where it opened massive new mail processing, called Regional Processing and Distribution Centers.

However, the agency is putting some of its network modernization changes on hold until at least January 2025.

“You can rest assured that along with the entire United States Postal Service, I am personally fully committed to effective implementation of our longstanding processes and procedures designed to ensure that all ballot mail is delivered in a timely and secure manner,” DeJoy wrote in a letter sent last Friday.

The groups told USPS in a letter last week that over the past year, including this year’s primary elections, local election offices received mailed ballots days after the deadline to be counted — even though they were postmarked on time.

“We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” the groups wrote to DeJoy. “Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process.”

DeJoy wrote in his response that USPS is delivering mail, on average, within 2.7 days, and that “election mail routinely outperforms our regular service performance due to our long-standing processes and procedures.”

DeJoy told the groups that voters should mail their ballots before Election Day, at least one week prior to their state’s deadline.

“As you know, we take any reports of delayed election mail seriously and work to solve problems, even when it turns out that they are not the responsibility of the Postal Service,” DeJoy wrote.

USPS, as it does every ahead of every election, will deploy “extraordinary measures,” which include advancing election mail ahead of other mail during processing, running extra truck trips between facilities and daily “all clear” checks to ensure all election mail is accounted for in the system.

USPS officials told reporters in a press briefing last month that those extraordinary measures will begin Oct. 21 and run through Nov. 15.

“The measures are not intended to compensation for general operational deficiencies, to the extent that such deficiencies exist, and in fact if they were implemented too early that would likely be counterproductive,” DeJoy said.

USPS, he added, recently identified several flawed ballot envelope designs and related issues that caused ballot mail to “loop within our system or to be incorrectly delivered or returned to sender.”

“In those cases, when election officials bring concerns to our attention, or when we discover the issues on our own, we are able to work with election officials to ensure their ballot envelopes and addressing conform with our best practice recommendations that we consistently share with election officials to ensure effective use of the mail,” DeJoy wrote.

While the vast majority of election mail is collected and delivered locally — and doesn’t travel extensively through the USPS network — agency officials said told reporters they are also prepared to deliver overseas ballots from military and diplomatic personnel on time.

In the 2020 general election, USPS delivered 99.9% of ballots from voters to election officials within seven days, and matched that level of performance for the 2022 midterm elections.

USPS delivered about 97% to 98% of election and political mail on time between December 2023 and April 2024.

Dave Lewis, president of the postal metrics company SnailWorks, recently told Federal News Network that USPS is well positioned to handle mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day. It’s everything else broadly categorized as “election mail” that may put a strain on the agency.

“That means, the ‘Vote for me’’ stuff, the candidates’ mail, and that will be billions and billions of pieces mailed in the next three months,” Lewis said last month. “There are billions of pieces of that, and that’s what’s clogs the system up. That may get in the way of some of the ballots. That concerns me.”

Among recent improvements, DeJoy said USPS has transitioned to a new electronic election and political mail “all clear” log, making it easier to track how facilities are keeping up with standard election mail procedures.

The Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement branch of USPS, is also conducting ongoing election mail inspections in processing facilities and post offices.

Aside from state election officials, former President Donald Trump has cast doubts on the Postal Service’s ability to deliver mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day.

Trump, postal unions weigh in on election mail

Trump, in a post on the social media platform Truth Social, wrote on Sunday that “United States Postal Service has admitted that it is a poorly run mess that is experiencing mail loss and delays at a level never seen before.”

“With this being the FACT, how can we possibly be expected to allow or trust the U.S. Postal Service to run the 2024 Presidential Election? It is not possible for them to do so. HELP!” Trump wrote.

Trump also questioned USPS delivery of mail-in ballots during the 2020 presidential election.

The National Rural Letter Carriers Association, in response to Trump’s post, tweeted Sunday that “rural carriers across the country are ready to deliver for the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November.”

“The 655,000 hardworking men and women of the Postal Service are dedicated to ensuring excellence when it comes to delivering for the American people. Rural letter carriers have been safely and securely delivering mail-in ballots for decades, including millions of ballots in 2020 and 2022.”

Democratic lawmakers, however, also share concerns about the Postal Service’s performance.

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) tweeted on Sept. 12 that “Postmaster General DeJoy needs to make sure postal delays are not an issue in this election.”

“The most important responsibility of the Postal Service is delivering mail-in ballots.  They have to get it right — millions of Americans’ votes are in their hands,” Smith wrote.

In response to Smith’s post, Brian Renfroe, national president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said postal workers are prepared for the election season.

“Senator, what you don’t have to worry about are the 650,000 employees of the Postal Service continuing to dutifully do their jobs with integrity,” he posted.

Renfroe also urged lawmakers to do more to put USPS on firmer financial footing.

“Elected leaders should do their jobs & make policy changes to fix problems they created & keep the Postal Service financially stable,” Renfroe wrote.

USPS is generally self-funded by its own revenue, and is pursuing several network modernization changes, in an effort to cut billions in annual operating costs.

Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, however, have grown frustrated with these plans, saying they have led to slower mail delivery.

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