Key facts
- USPS said it delivered a record 4.2 billion pieces of political marketing mail in the two months before the report.
- The Supreme Court blocked Trump and USPS in September from enforcing rules on ballot delivery and voter lists.
- USPS delivered 99.2 million ballots to and from voters in the 2024 presidential election, the report said.
- About 30% of votes were cast by mail in November 2024, down from 46% in 2020, according to the report.
The US Postal Service said it extended hours, added staffing and set up special ballot lines at branches to get mail-in ballots for the midterm elections counted by Tuesday, in a report dated November 2 from Golden, Colorado.
President Donald Trump ordered the agency to write rules that would bar it from delivering ballots if states did not agree to turn over lists of eligible voters, and some voters expressed concern about voting by mail. The Supreme Court blocked Trump and USPS from enforcing those rules in September.
USPS said it delivered tens of millions of ballots and a record 4.2 billion pieces of political marketing mail in the prior two months, up more than 300 million pieces over the 2024 election cycle. It said it conducted daily sweeps of postal facilities for remaining ballots and brought on extra staff on Sunday to collect, postmark and process mail.
Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS Board of Governors, said voting by mail appeared a little higher than prior midterm elections in part because ballots went out earlier in some states. "We've done it in a cross-partisan, non-partisan, apolitical way. We'll continue to operate that way," she said.
In 2024, USPS delivered 99.2 million ballots to and from voters in the presidential election. About 30% of votes were cast by mail in the November 2024 presidential election, down from 46% in 2020.
In Golden, acting postmaster John Douglas said he had been starting work at 4 a.m., earlier than normal. The Denver Processing and Distribution Center, about 20 miles away, processed 3.5 million pieces of political marketing mail in a single day the prior week, according to the report.
Some states allow ballots postmarked by November 3, while others such as Colorado require them in the possession of an election official by 7 p.m. MT Tuesday, except for military or overseas ballots. USPS launched a portal, electionmail.org, for local officials to get help with mail-related ballot issues.