The US Postal Service is working flat out this week to process record levels of ‘mail-in’ votes for the November 3 presidential election as millions of Americans vote early by post instead of in person at polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The postal operator, whose service performance has fluctuated in recent weeks, has so far handled at least 100 million ballots within a total election mailbag of 523 million items including promotional material, according to various media reports. This is more than double the total volumes prior to the 2016 presidential election but still only represents about 2% of overall current postal volumes.
At the same time, however, normal mail volumes have plummeted over the last few months as companies and organisations have cut back on physical letters and mailings due to the pandemic’s effects on business and daily life.
Top priority for election mail
After reversing controversial cost-saving operational cutbacks in August and following several court orders, USPS has committed extensive additional resources to ensuring that it can handle election mail as legally required. Measures include longer working times, extra pickups, faster handling of specially marked election mail and additional deliveries between October 26 and November 24.
Kristin Seaver, the Postal Service’s chief retail and delivery officer, told US media last week: “Election mail will not be delayed. We have prioritized all resources and areas of focus on the timely and secure delivery of election mail.”
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy already declared on October 13: “From my executive team to the leadership of the postal unions and management associations to every postal employee, our number one priority for the next month is the election. We have the resources in place and every team in every facility across the country is focused on Election Mail. We will not waver from our sacred duty.”
Faster handling of election mail
The Postal Service’s special measures appear to be paying off so far, according to a report on the Government Executive website. The Postal Service processed 96% of inbound ballots and 97% of outbound ballots on time in the week ending October 16, up from 87% and 94% one month earlier.
In parallel, USPS is encouraging postal voters to mail their ballots well ahead of next week’s election day. “The U.S. Postal Service’s general recommendation is that, as a common-sense measure, voters should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week prior to their state’s deadline. Some states may recommend allowing even more time for mailing completed ballots,” the agency said.
Slower deliveries of non-election mail
In its latest weekly service performance overview, the postal agency said its total mail volume was 3.1 billion pieces in the week of October 10 – 16, which was 23% higher than average volume in September.
However, with top priority for election mail at present, the delivery performance for other mail worsened in all three categories compared to the previous week, with 85.6% of first-class mail delivered on time, 86% of marketing mail and 77.4% of periodicals.
No impact analysis for operational changes
Meanwhile, the Inspector General for the US Postal Service, which monitors the agency, last week published a report criticizing how the operational changes were introduced by the Postmaster-General in June shortly after taking up the post.
"No analysis of the service impacts of these various changes was conducted and documentation and guidance to the field for these strategies was very limited and almost exclusively oral," the report said. "The resulting confusion and inconsistency in operations at postal facilities compounded the significant negative service impacts across the country."
USPS halted these changes in August after the service performance declined rapidly and amid claims that they could impact on the agency’s ability to handle postal votes for the presidential election.
