USPS pushes back measures that ensure mail ballots arrive on time

Each election year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) takes extra steps to ensure ballots sent through the mail arrive at election offices on time. This year, it’s delaying those efforts.

The USPS has pushed back the start date for its “extraordinary measures” by five days, in comparison to past elections, according to a memo sent out to all USPS employees Wednesday. 

The measures, including USPS’ new Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) policy, will begin on Oct. 24. That gives Postal Service workers 10 days before Election Day to handle the inevitable extra work that comes with the millions of ballots mailed throughout the country in the lead-up to Nov. 3.

In 2024, the Postal Service started its extra measures on Oct. 21 — 15 days before that year’s Election Day. The measures in 2022 also started 15 days before Election Day that year.

The measures include establishing a separate line for those dropping off ballots at post offices to be postmarked and extending retail hours by 30 minutes at the start and end of the day to allow for increased traffic. USPS will also add a drive-through option for offices with lots of voters stopping by.

Two days later, on Oct. 26, USPS will begin its “mandatory handling of return ballots” to local boards of elections. 

Wednesday’s memo did not provide reasoning for the delayed start, and it does not warn that the dates will cause any problems. But the timeline means there will be less time for postal workers to manage mail balloting than they have historically had.

This delayed start date announcement comes less than a month after President Donald Trump’s failed attempt to use the Postal Service to restrict mail balloting. Prior to the ruling, a whistleblower report claimed the agency began rushing to implement Trump’s order — in direct defiance of a court order. Trump has repeatedly tried to take control of the USPS with the help of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

USPS did not respond to Democracy Docket’s questions about the delayed start date by the time of publication.

Steve Hutkins heads up Save the Post Office, and he’s been chronicling the agency’s changes since he started the website in 2011. Hutkins reviewed information similar to that in the memo through the USPS Postal Bulletin this week.

“The shorter timeframe is noteworthy and I don’t know why they’re doing this,” Hutkins wrote in an email to Democracy Docket. 

Hutkins also pointed out that while the timeline is still significant, the USPS, also under Trump, gave workers only eight days to work through extraordinary measures in 2020, with a timeline of Oct 26. through Nov. 3.