MEDFORD, Ore. – The United States Postal Service is reaffirming its ability to effectively deliver election mail on time in a statement the agency released Tuesday.
This is in response to concerns NBC5 News reported on Monday in which the Southern Oregon American Postal Workers Union expressed the mishandling of May’s primary election was cause for concern ahead of 2024’s general election in November.
The USPS says it plans to implement longstanding procedures such as expanding processing procedures, providing additional transportation, extra delivery and collection trips, daily all-clears as well as overtime and more for the presidential election.
In a statement from USPS spokesperson, Kim Frum said, “the U.S. Postal Service is fully committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s election mail. The postal service employs a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling and delivery of all election mail, including ballots.”
Frum says according to USPS data, the average delivery time within the Medford zip code areas is less than two days, as is the window of time between Medford and Portland.
Read the full statement from the United States Postal Service below:
The U.S. Postal Service is fully committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail. The Postal Service employs a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling and delivery of all Election Mail, including ballots.
As in previous elections, we will deploy longstanding processes and procedures, as well as allocating additional resources, including, but not limited to, expanded processing procedures, extra transportation, extra delivery and collection trips, daily all-clears and overtime, to ensure that Election Mail reaches its intended destination in a timely manner.
Our organization can comfortably handle all Election Mail in 2024. Election Mail makes up a small percentage of our total mail volume. We deliver 433 million pieces of mail daily, with Election Mail accounting for only 0.09% in 2022 and 0.11% in 2020. We have a strong track record of delivering ballots on time. In the 2020 general election, we delivered 99.89% of ballots within seven days, and 99.938% in the 2022 midterms. Detailed analysis of our performance in these elections can be found here and here.
Election Mail is defined as ballots and other materials mailed from election officials to voters, and voters back to election officials. The total expected volume of Election Mail in 2024 during the 10-week period will be less than what we handle on an average day. As part of our ten-year Delivering for America plan, the Postal Service is working to modernize its mail and package processing network. Modernization of the processing network will improve service and reliability for all mail delivery, including Election Mail.
Information on the Postal Service’s successful performance in previous elections is found here: https://www.usps.com/votinginfo.
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