Postal Service reassures on mail ballots, says all centers operating in regions hit by hurricanes

Source: ABC News/AP

October 23, 2024, 5:47 PM


TOPEKA, Kan. -- 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. Monteith said all the processing centers in North Carolina were back in operation as of Tuesday, as were all of Florida's centers. He said mail can be delivered to all but 4,600 addresses in North Carolina and about 600 in Florida.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/postal-service-reassures-mail-ballots-centers-operating-regions-115085560