By David Shepardson and Jacob Bogage
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) – The US Postal Service said Thursday it will take a series of extraordinary measures to ensure the delivery of millions of ballots for next month’s 2026 congressional elections, including extending hours at some retail branches.
USPS said in a memo seen by Reuters that retail branches may extend hours starting Oct. 4 through the Nov. 3 election to handle ballots and establish a “Ballot Postmark Only” line at retail counters or a drive-through Ballot Mail option. USPS also will conduct expedited handling, extra deliveries,
and special pickups of ballots..
USPS also said that before the election, workers can use the Priority Mail Express network to expedite the delivery of completed ballots returned by voters that might otherwise not be delivered in time. Starting October 24 through the election, carriers must check every delivery point for outgoing mail, regardless of whether they have incoming mail.
On September 14, the US Supreme Court declined to let USPS enforce a rule targeting mail-in ballots, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict voting by mail.
The agency adopted the measure after Trump issued a March executive order aimed at tightening rules governing mail voting.
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.
Trump’s fellow Republicans are locked in a tight battle to retain control of Congress in the midterms. Restricting mail-in ballots would stand to benefit Republicans given Democratic voters disproportionately use mail-in ballots, according to various surveys.
Under the rule that was blocked, states would have had to provide lists of mail ballot recipients to USPS and use agency-approved outbound and return ballot mail envelopes outfitted with unique barcodes. The Postal Service could then have refused to send out ballots that did not comply or were associated with voters not appearing on the lists.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Jacob Bogage, Editing by Franklin Paul and Aurora Ellis)
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