The U.S. Postal Service has issued guidance to voters casting their ballots by mail ahead of the general election on November 5.
“Our message to the public is simple. If you are planning to use the U.S. Mail to cast your ballot in November, please plan to mail early,” Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy said in a press release.
The agency advised voters to post their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week before the deadline by which their completed ballot must be received by their local election official.
Different states have varying deadlines for when ballots must be received by.
Some states require that ballots arrive by Election Day, while others accept ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and received within a specified timeframe afterward.
Voters are advised to research their state’s rules and deadlines to make sure their ballots arrive in time, the agency said.
The deadlines for each state can be found on their website.
The Postal Service also assured the public that it has the operational capacity to deliver the country’s ballots in the final weeks of the election. It noted that in 2020, ballots accounted for just 0.11 percent of its total mail volume.
A person mailing an absentee ballot for voting in an election by mail in Gualala, California, July 4, 2020. The U.S. Postal Service has issued guidance to voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Getty Images
The latest guidance comes after an August statement in which the Postal Service assured a commitment to “the critical mission of delivering the nation’s election mail.”
It pointed out its successes in delivering election mail in the 2020 general election and the 2022 midterm elections.
The Postal Service said it has implemented enhanced measures ahead of the upcoming election, including additional pickups and deliveries to ensure timely ballot processing.
Mail-in ballots have become the source of right-wing ire in recent years, largely driven by former President Donald Trump‘s baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent due to the practice.
He has described mail-in voting as “totally corrupt” and Republicans have launched efforts in some states to prohibit the counting of postmarked ballots received after Election Day.
However, ahead of the 2024 general election, Trump’s campaign appears to have contradicted itself by urging people to vote early and by mail.
Democrats have historically used early and mail-in voting at higher rates than Republicans.
The popularity of mail-in votes surged during the COVID pandemic as voters sought alternatives to in-person voting.
According to the census, 69 percent of voters cast their ballot either by mail or voted early in the 2020 election, which took place during the pandemic.
