Questions are still swirling among voters about whether their ballots can be safely returned through the mail, though the Trump administration failed in its attempt to let the U.S. Postal Service screen them, election officials told USA TODAY.
Voting by mail, however, will be business as usual this year, USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steve Monteith stressed to reporters Oct. 15.
"Our election mail processes and procedures for this year will be consistent with our previous election cycles," he said.
Postal Service officials also urged voters to return ballots at least a week in advance. During the 2022 and 2024 elections, the Postal Service delivered 99.9% of ballots to voters or to election officials within seven days, Monteith said.
During the 2026 primaries, he said, the Postal Service delivered about 98% of the 254.9 million pieces of election mail nationwide within that same time frame.
In a 7-2 decision on Sept. 14, the Supreme Court declined Trump's plan to let the U.S. Postal Service screen mail-in ballots after they are received by state officials. Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with a lower court's decision to block the order, writing that changing election procedures so close to the midterms would be "arbitrary and capricious."
Monteith said the court's decision means "the Postal Service is not implementing or enforcing" rules implementing Trump's plan for the midterm elections.
Still, county and state election officials say they are still seeing an impact, either through a drop in vote-by-mail ballots or more people saying they plan to vote in person.
In Wisconsin, only ballots received by 8 p.m. on Election Day are counted, regardless of when they were postmarked, said Lisa Tollefson, the Rock County clerk. She is telling people to put ballots in the mail at least 14 days before the election, which is next week.
"That's the latest we are recommending they mail it. Otherwise, we want them to actually deliver it to the clerk directly – use a drop box – because if we don't have it by 8 p.m., we can't count it," Tollefson said.
Marge Bostelmann, a member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, agreed and said the state has seen "huge delays" with absentee ballots coming back.
Michele Carew, elections administrator for Bexar County, Texas, said she's seen fewer requests for mail-in ballots than expected. In a midterm, the county would normally receive up to 50,000 ballot requests, she said. Her county includes San Antonio.
"We're currently just right at 30,000, so there's a gap there," she said.
Carew added she is seeing on social media a lot of fear about voting by mail and whether the ballots will be returned on time.
"I see a lot of the senior citizens mentioning that they're going to get in line to vote in person," Carew said.
In Beaufort County, North Carolina, Board of Elections Director Kellie Harris Hopkins said it normally takes a few weeks for absentee ballots to begin returning. This year, she said, "as soon as we sent them out they were coming back."
Eric Olsen, director of elections for Prince William County, Virginia, said the number of requests for absentee ballots has been similar to previous elections, at about 10% of voters. He's seen a small increase in the number of ballots being returned in drop boxes rather than by mail.
"I'm happy to report that our mail service has actually been excellent. I think it's actually better than it was two or three years ago. We're seeing ballots that people sending back get to us very quickly," he said.
In the two weeks since ballots were sent out, he's seen more ballots come back than at the same point in the 2024 presidential election.
"I think people are getting the message to do it early, and the Postal Service seems to be doing a good job of holding up their end," he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. Postal Service: It is safe to mail your ballot this election year
