The Postal Service has delivered millions of mail-in ballots to state election boards, and is prepared to handle millions more in the days leading up to Election Day, according to agency officials.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, voters have cast more than 23 million ballots nationwide, according to an NBC News dashboard.

Mail-in ballots account for about 58% of the early vote count — more than 13 million votes overall. Early in-person voting accounts for the remaining 42% of ballots cast.

In the first three weeks of October, USPS delivered 97.8% of mail-in ballots on time within its one-to-five-day standard for first-class delivery. It delivered 99.9% of ballots within seven days.

USPS delivered about 99.7% of ballots on time in the 2020 and 2022 general elections and took about two days on average to deliver ballots.

USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steve Montieth said the agency’s delivery operations are “operating effectively without any major reported disruption.”

“We have the capacity to handle a high volume of election mail in the final weeks of the election,” Montieth said.

Mail-in ballots account for the vast majority of early voting in key battleground states — including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.

Voters in Pennsylvania have cast more than a million mail-in ballots. The state does not have an in-person early voting option.

However, mail-in ballots only account for 6% of early votes cast in North Carolina and Georgia. Hurricane Milton hit parts of both states, and recovery efforts are still underway.

In Florida, which is still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, mail-in ballots account for 66% of early votes cast.

Restoring normal operations

Montieth said USPS has restored mail service in areas impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton. USPS processing facilities and most retail and delivery units in North Carolina and Florida have reopened as of Oct. 22

Postal workers have delivered the backlog of delayed mail, which built up before and after Hurricane Helene made landfall, to every accessible delivery point,  but Monteith said, “the full recovery of service to the area may stretch forward for some time.”

All mail destined for North Carolina and Florida that cannot be delivered as addressed has been sent to local post offices, “where it will be delivered when it’s safe to do so,” Montieth said.

The National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State have raised concerns about USPS performance ahead of this year’s election.

The groups told USPS in a letter last month 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.

Montieth, however, said USPS is working closely with state and local election officials to address any delivery problems.

“The Postal Service has been and will continue to be in regular communications with the local boards of elections in these states over the coming weeks, so that we can quickly identify and resolve any election mail-related issues where retail and delivery units remain inaccessible,” Montieth said. “When issues are brought to our attention, we resolve them quickly at the lowest level, and we have ongoing communication, so when they’re brought to our attention, we investigate and resolve them.”

USPS recommends that voters submit their mail-in ballots at least seven days before their state’s deadline to ensure they are counted.

USPS rolls out ‘extraordinary measures’

USPS on Monday began conducting “extraordinary measures” to ensure ballots get to election officials on time.

Adrienne Marshall, USPS director of election and government mail services, said these steps — which USPS conducts every year —include advancing election mail ahead of other mail during processing, running extra truck trips between facilities and holding daily “all clear” checks to ensure all election mail is accounted for within mail processing plants.

“The extraordinary measures are designed to accelerate and enhance the delivery of ballot mail when the Postal Service is able to identify the mail piece as a ballot,” Marshall said.

USPS, in a deviation from its normal processes, will also ensure every mailed ballot receives a postmark.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia require elections to include return postage for mail-in ballots, often as prepaid business reply mail that doesn’t have a physical postage stamp on it.

USPS, under normal circumstances, only postmarks mail with a stamp on it to prevent reuse of those stamps. But many states use the postmark as proof that the citizen mailed a ballot  on time, and still count them — even if the ballot arrives after Election Day.

However, some states, including Georgia, will only accept ballots through Election Day, regardless of the postmark date.

“Our long-standing policy has been to try to ensure that every return ballot that is mailed by voters receives a postmark,” Marshall said.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told members of the House Appropriations Committee last month that USPS extraordinary measures are also meant to “rescue ballots” mailed late that wouldn’t otherwise get to election officials on time.

“We engage in these heroic efforts to beat the clock, and they are only used when the risk inherent from deviating from our standard processes is justified by a risk of a voter’s ballot not meeting a state’s election deadline. In those instances, we prioritize expeditious delivery,” DeJoy said.

The Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement division of USPS, is also sending personnel to facilities to ensure USPS employees are following election mail procedures.

Additionally, Postal inspectors are  partnering with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to ensure USPS operations are safe from physical and cybersecurity threats.

“We understand the critical role we play. We are resolute in our efforts to secure the delivery of ballot mail and all election mail,” Brendan Donahue, USPIS assistant inspector in charge, told reporters.

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