By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Postal Service said on Monday it delivered at least 99.2 million ballots to and from voters in the November presidential election.
USPS said at least 99.88% of ballots were delivered to election officials within a week. In September, a group of about three dozen election officials had raised serious concerns about USPS’s ability to deliver millions of ballots for the 2024 presidential election.
The officials had cited questions “about processing facility operations, lost or delayed election mail, and front-line training deficiencies impacting USPS’s ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner.”
The performance is similar to 2020, when USPS said it delivered 99.89% of ballots from voters to election officials within seven days.
“In 2024, the Postal Service once again admirably performed our role of efficiently and effectively delivering the nation’s ballots,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
The inspector general’s office said 46% of votes were cast by mail in the November 2020 presidential election, compared with 21% in the 2016 election.
In total, USPS delivered 3.37 billion pieces of political and election mail in 2024.
USPS said some states let voters request mail ballots too close to Election Day on Nov. 5 to guarantee adequate time to return votes and added “consistent policies are needed nationwide to ensure that operations run smoothly.”
USPS said 150,630 outbound ballots from election offices entered the mail between Oct. 31 and Election Day — too late to ensure timely deliveries.
Starting Oct. 1, USPS deployed ballot monitors and others in processing, retail and delivery units “to reinforce and amplify our policies and procedures on the ground”
Last month, USPS warned it must continue to cut costs and boost revenue or risks requiring a government bailout to help the organization avoid financial collapse. It reported a net loss of $9.5 billion for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, a $3 billion bigger loss than last year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
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