U.S. Postal Service is Ready to Deliver the Nation’s Election Mail

With seven days remaining until Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, the United States Postal Service recommends that voters who choose to vote by mail do so soon.

As they anticipate an uptick of ballots in the mail over the coming days, Postal Service employees are working to ensure the ballots of every individual who chooses to vote by mail are delivered quickly and securely.  As in past elections, the Postal Service is ready to deliver your ballot on time. But don’t delay. If you choose to vote by mail, please mail early as every day counts.

The post office continues to recommend that it is a good common-sense measure for voters who choose to mail in their ballots to do so before Election Day and at least a week before their election office needs to receive them. If a ballot is due on Election Day, the Postal Service recommends mailing the ballot by Tuesday (October 29).

The Postal Service remains fully ready to successfully deliver the nation's mail-in ballots for voters who choose to use USPS to vote.  And to be clear, even for return ballots that are entered in their system after Tuesday, they will continue to deploy “extraordinary measures,” which are designed to accelerate the delivery of Ballot Mail in the final weeks of the election season. 

For the upcoming 2024 general election, the Postal Service anticipates similar service performance as demonstrated in the 2020 general election*:

• 99.89 percent of ballots mailed from voters to election officials were delivered within a week (7 days).
• 97.9 percent of ballots mailed from voters to election officials were delivered within three days, and 99.7 percent were delivered within five days.
• On average, the Postal Service delivered ballots from election officials to voters in 2.1 days and ballots from voters to election officials in 1.6 days.

*2020 general election statistics

For the 2024 general election the nation’s postal network is operating effectively without any major reported disruptions. Service performance across the nation is strong. In the first three weeks of October, Ballot Mail performance scores were high:

• 99.9 percent of ballots (combined: outbound from election officials to voters and inbound from voters to election officials) were delivered within a week (7 days).
• On average, the Postal Service delivered outbound ballots (to voters) in 2.0 days.
• 98.3 Percent of inbound ballots (from voters to election officials) were delivered within 3 days.
• On average, the Postal Service delivered inbound ballots (from voters to election officials) in 1 day. 

Extraordinary measures began Monday, Oct. 21, and will continue nationwide through Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 5) and extend through the last day in each state that boards of elections will accept completed mail-in ballots as timely.

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.