Relying on the U.S. Postal Service to return a mail-in ballot close to Election Day now comes with an additional risk for many voters — a late postmark that gets a vote rejected.
The risk stems from mailing system changes that began last year. And those changes have pushed some election officials to encourage voters to consider returning their ballots at their local election office or any available drop boxes instead.
The calls to avoid mailboxes also come as trust in the Postal Service delivering mail ballots on time has fallen, and after President Trump pushed to restrict voting by mail for the midterm elections but was blocked by the Supreme Court.
Election officials often use the date of the postmark that USPS stamps on envelopes to determine whether a ballot was sent by Election Day.
About a week before next month's Election Day, USPS says it plans to roll out special postmarking procedures at post offices affected by the changes as part of its "extraordinary measures" policy to boost mail service for federal general elections.
Still, the agency continues to recommend that voters mail back ballots at least a week before their state's deadline. And in states with a grace period for receiving late-arriving mail ballots, USPS recommends stopping by a post office to ask for a manual postmark to make sure a ballot gets postmarked on the same day it's mailed.
How mailing system changes led to the risk of late postmarks
Since April 2025, USPS has been rolling out cuts to daily mail pick-ups and processing changes at certain post offices, especially in rural areas. What USPS calls its "Regional Transportation Optimization" effort is part of a 10-year reorganization plan the agency began in 2021 to try to stabilize its finances.
As a result, USPS may not automatically stamp a date on an envelope the same day it's collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a post office or a big blue collection box.
As part of its "extraordinary measures" for these midterms, USPS has instructed post offices affected by RTO to separate returned ballots from other mail starting Oct. 26 so that managers can manually add postmarks the day the ballots are collected.
That procedure was not in place during this year's primary elections, which saw increased ballot rejection rates in multiple states.
Elena Patel, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, says she is encouraged by the steps USPS plans to take in the coming weeks to address concerns about late postmarks.
But the situation is still risky for voters, Patel adds, given that it's not clear how post offices will carry out these directives for the first time, particularly in places where staffing may be stretched.
For the general election, an additional 43,000 to 55,000 ballots around the country could be rejected for arriving late because of the RTO effort, according to a new analysis by Patel, who produced the estimates before USPS announced its final extraordinary measures policy.
"These are some of the realities of running a very large postal network on tight finances," says Patel, who once worked as an economist at the Postal Regulatory Commission.
USPS plans to take other "extraordinary measures" for mail-in ballots
USPS has outlined other extraordinary measures:
- Starting Oct. 24, 10 days before Election Day, some post offices may extend their opening and closing times by a half-hour and set up lines or drive-through lanes just for voters who want to get a manual postmark for their mail-in ballot.
- And starting Oct. 26, USPS says it plans to speed up delivery of ballots.
Asked why it is not starting extraordinary measures 15 days before Election Day, as it did for the 2024 and 2022 elections, USPS said in a statement: "The time period for extraordinary measures is carefully considered in advance of each General Election, and it is based on a number of internal factors. The Postal Service has successfully delivered America's election mail for more than 150 years, and we are confident that we will do so again this year."
Still, some eligible voters who rely on voting by mail are between "a rock and a hard place" when trying to navigate the mailing system, says Michelle Sparck, director of Get Out the Native Vote, a voter education organization in Alaska.
No post offices in the state are affected by the RTO effort, but Sparck, a member of the Qissunamiut Tribe of Chevak, says she has come across many absentee voters in Alaska Native villages who had their ballots rejected — an outcome that she fears will discourage some from trying to vote again.
"The No. 1 reason for that was postmarking delays. Now, even on a good Alaskan day with no weather challenges, it doesn't mean we're going to have an operational post office on a business day during business hours," Sparck says. "It's always, always easier said than done to kind of go along with the system's rules. But the system doesn't exactly work for us."
For now, Sparck is encouraging eligible voters to make a plan to be an October voter and not wait until November's Election Day if they can.
"If there is an early voting opportunity in a community," Sparck says, "we're asking people to drop their ballots off with those folks so that it becomes part of the chain of custody."
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
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