Background

The U.S. Postal Service handles the processing, transportation, and delivery of Election and Political Mail across the country. It is committed to fulfilling its role in the electoral process when policymakers and voters choose to use the mail as part of their election systems or as their means to vote, respectively. To do so, the Postal Service aims to employ practices and procedures to help ensure that it meets its customers’ expectations — that Election Mail, especially Ballot Mail, will be delivered timely. On March 31, 2026, an Executive Order was issued pertaining to election administration, and related litigation is ongoing at the time of this report issuance. This audit did not evaluate the Postal Service’s plan to implement this order, but we plan to cover allegations received at the end of August 2026 in subsequent work.

What We Did

Our objective was to evaluate the Postal Service’s processing of Election and Political Mail for the 2026 primary elections. We conducted observations at nine processing facilities and 73 delivery units in eight states during primary elections from March to May 2026. In June 2026, we conducted further observations at five mail processing facilities in New Jersey and Tennessee, in response to a congressional inquiry.

What We Found

From February through May 2026, the Postal Service processed Election and Political Mail with on-time processing scores ranging from 97.75 to 98.99 percent. While most facilities we visited generally adhered to Postal Service’s election-related policies and procedures, there are opportunities to increase understanding and enforcement of postmarking ballots, completing required reports for late arriving Political Mail and the daily all-clear certifications, and posting election-related training materials for employees. Additionally, we found coordination with election officials and communication with customers affected by operational changes could be strengthened. Further, we identified opportunities at specific mail processing facilities that, if employed, could support the timely delivery of Ballot Mail.

Recommendations and Management’s Comments

We made 11 recommendations to address the issues identified in the report. Postal Service management agreed with 10 and disagreed with one. While the Postal Service disagreed with one recommendation, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General considers management’s comments responsive to all recommendations, as corrective actions should resolve the issues identified in the report.