USPS mail changes risk rejecting late ballots over postmark delays

USPS extraordinary measures begin Oct. 24 at affected post offices

Voters who wait until close to Election Day to mail in their ballots now face an added risk of having their votes rejected over a late postmark. The added risk stems from cost-cutting changes the U.S. Postal Service began rolling out in April 2025 to its daily mail pickup routes and processing at certain post offices — changes that mean USPS may not stamp a date on an envelope the same day it is collected. With the 2026 midterm elections about a month away, election officials are steering voters toward drop boxes and local election offices rather than the mail, and USPS says it will begin “extraordinary measures” at affected post offices on Oct. 24 and Oct. 26 to manually postmark same-day ballots.

Election officials frequently use the date a Postal Service postmark shows on an envelope to decide whether a ballot was sent by Election Day. When a postmark is missing or shows a date after the deadline, a ballot can be ruled ineligible. The risk that a ballot arrives without a same-day postmark applies primarily to voters who use mailboxes close to Election Day; USPS continues to recommend that voters mail back ballots at least a week before their state’s deadline. In states that allow a grace period for late-arriving mail ballots, USPS recommends stopping by a post office to ask for a manual postmark to make sure a ballot is postmarked the same day it is mailed.

About a week before Election Day, USPS plans to roll out special postmarking procedures at post offices affected by the changes. Starting Oct. 26, affected post offices will separate returned ballots from other mail so managers can manually add postmarks the same day the ballots are collected — a procedure that was not in place during this year’s primary elections, which saw increased rejection rates in multiple states. Beginning Oct. 24 — 10 days before Election Day — some affected post offices may extend their hours by a half-hour and set up lines or drive-through lanes for voters asking for a manual postmark.

USPS also plans to begin expedited ballot delivery on Oct. 26. The agency is not starting extraordinary measures 15 days before Election Day, as it did for the 2024 and 2022 general elections. Asked why, USPS said in a statement that “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,” adding that the Postal Service “has successfully delivered America’s election mail for more than 150 years.”

Even with the planned measures, the situation remains risky for voters, according to Elena Patel, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution who once worked as an economist at the Postal Regulatory Commission. Patel said she is encouraged by the steps USPS plans to take in the coming weeks but added that it is not yet clear how post offices will carry out the directives for the first time, “particularly in places where staffing may be stretched.” Patel estimated that for the general election, an additional 43,000 to 55,000 ballots around the country could be rejected for arriving late because of the changes — figures she produced before USPS announced its final extraordinary measures policy. “These are some of the realities of running a very large postal network on tight finances,” Patel said.

The mail-pickup and processing changes are part of what USPS calls its Regional Transportation Optimization effort, a 10-year reorganization plan the agency began in 2021 to stabilize its finances. Since April 2025, daily mail pickups have been cut and processing altered at certain post offices, especially in rural areas. As a result, USPS may not automatically stamp a date on an envelope the same day it is collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a post office or a blue collection box.

The postmark risk is already familiar to voters in Alaska Native villages. No post offices in Alaska are affected by the Regional Transportation Optimization program, but Michelle Sparck, director of the voter education organization Get Out the Native Vote and a member of the Qissunamiut Tribe of Chevak, said she has come across many absentee voters in Alaska Native villages whose ballots were rejected in recent elections — an outcome she fears will discourage some from trying again. “The No. 1 reason for that was postmarking delays,” Sparck said. “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. 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 said, her organization is encouraging eligible voters to “be an October voter” rather than wait until Election Day. “If there is an early voting opportunity in a community,” she said, “we’re asking people to drop their ballots off with those folks so that it becomes part of the chain of custody.”

The calls to avoid mailboxes come as trust in the Postal Service’s delivery of 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.

Reporting by Hansi Lo Wang; edited by Benjamin Swasey.