Postal Service reassures on mail ballots, says all centers operating in regions hit by hurricanes
The U.S. Postal Service says it has reopened all of its mail processing centers in areas of Florida and North Carolina hit by recent hurricanes
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service has reopened all of its mail processing centers in areas of Florida and North Carolina hit by recent hurricanes, a top official said Wednesday in a briefing meant to reassure voters and election officials that the agency is ready to handle mail ballots.
The Postal Service held the virtual meeting less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 election and six weeks after state and local election officials warned that problems with mail service threatened to disenfranchise voters. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy later responded that the Postal Service makes "heroic efforts” to get even ballots mailed late to election offices on time.
Even after Hurricane Helene in late September and Hurricane Milton this month, 99.9% of the nation's election-related mail was delivered within seven days, the Postal Service reported Wednesday. It said 99.7% of the election-related mail was delivered within three days for the last presidential election in 2020.
“We have the capacity to handle a high volume of election mail in the final weeks of the election,” said Steven Monteith, a Postal Service executive vice president and its chief marketing officer.
