Voter Confidence in USPS Election Mail Falls to 58 Percent
Fifty-eight percent of registered voters said they are confident or very confident the U.S. Postal Service will deliver election mail on time, down from 71% in 2024, according to the September 2026 NPR/PBS News/Marist poll NPR.
That is a drop of 13 percentage points in two years. Confidence is now back near fall 2020 levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2020, 52% of Americans said they were confident USPS would deliver election mail on time Marist.
The September 2026 poll surveyed 1,280 registered voters on Sept. 14-15 in English and Spanish, according to Marist. The margin of error was 3.8 percentage points. Registered voters are a narrower group than all adults.
Marist also surveyed 1,591 U.S. adults March 2-4, 2026, by phone, text and online PBS News. The margin of error was 2.8 percentage points. The difference in who was surveyed, when and how — what pollsters call universe, timing and mode — matters for people who follow voter attitudes over time.
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 issued the ruling on Sept. 14.
USPS said it plans to use its "extraordinary measures" policy to speed delivery of general-election ballots starting a week before Election Day. That is the temporary end-of-election push when the number of returned ballots peaks and local deadlines get tight.
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 count covers election mail handled before the November general election period.
In Washington state's 2026 primary, 19 counties saw the share 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 votes mainly by mail, so postmark timing and delivery speed decide whether a ballot counts.
USPS started 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 goals that USPS has not fully met GAO.
The broader context here is the gap between the agency's on-time number and voter confidence. Think of it like a large school district: even a 97.94% on-time rate can still mean thousands of late ballots in places that handle a lot of mail, and late-postmark rejections fall most on voters who mail ballots close to the deadline.
In my view, the calendar tightens that risk. Starting extraordinary measures a week before Election Day leaves little room for voters who depend on standard delivery times, especially where state law requires a postmark by Election Day rather than arrival. For states that vote mainly by mail, the Washington primary numbers on late postmarks will likely affect how local officials talk about return options, drop boxes and in-person choices for the general election.
