Voter Confidence in USPS for Election Mail Falls to 58% Ahead of Midterms
Fifty-eight percent of registered voters said they were confident or very confident that the U.S. Postal Service would deliver election mail on time, down from 71% in 2024, according to the September 2026 NPR/PBS News/Marist poll NPR.
The drop was 13 percentage points in two years. It returns confidence to levels last seen in fall 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2020, 52% of Americans expressed confidence in USPS to deliver election-related mail in a timely manner Marist.
The September 2026 national poll surveyed 1,280 voters on Sept. 14-15 in English and Spanish. The margin of error was 3.8 percentage points. The sample was registered voters, a narrower electorate than all adults.
Marist also fielded a national survey March 2-4, 2026, among 1,591 U.S. adults by phone, text and online PBS News. The margin of error for that survey was 2.8 percentage points. The difference in universe, timing and mode matters for practitioners who track voter attitudes across the cycle.
On Sept. 14, 2026, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from using USPS to restrict voting by mail for the midterm elections. The Court ruled on Sept. 14.
USPS planned to implement its "extraordinary measures" policy to speed delivery of general-election ballots beginning a week before Election Day. The plan covers the final week push when return volume peaks and local deadlines tighten.
The agency said it delivered more than 233 million pieces of election mail in the fiscal year through the end of August 2026 with an on-time score of 97.94%. That figure covers election mail processed before the November general election period.
In Washington state's 2026 primary, 19 counties saw their rate of ballots rejected for late postmarks more than double compared with 2024, according to a report by Sen. Maria Cantwell and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. Washington conducts elections principally by mail, which makes postmark timing and processing speed central to ballot acceptance.
USPS began a 10-year restructuring plan in 2021. A Government Accountability Office report found USPS cost-cutting led to longer expected delivery times and lowered service-performance goals that USPS has been unable to fully reach GAO.
Looking at what this means for election administration, the gap between the agency's reported on-time score and voter confidence is the operational problem. A 97.94% on-time rate can still produce thousands of late ballots in high-volume jurisdictions, and postmark rejections concentrate that risk among voters who return ballots close to the deadline.
In my view, the calendar compresses that risk further. Extraordinary measures beginning a week before Election Day leave little margin for voters who rely on standard delivery windows, particularly where state law requires a postmark by Election Day rather than receipt. For mail-election states, the Washington primary data on late postmarks will likely shape how local officials message return options, drop boxes and in-person alternatives in the general election.
