Voting By Mail? Send Your Ballot As Soon As Possible, Says USPS

NEW YORK CITY – With Election Day on Nov. 5 just around the corner, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is urging New York voters to mail in their ballots without delay, recommending anyone using mail-in voting send their ballots by Tuesday, Oct. 29, to ensure timely arrival.

“Every day counts,” per USPS. “We continue to recommend that it is a good common-sense measure for voters who choose to mail in their ballots to do so before Election Day and at least a week before their election office needs to receive them.”

Ballots Must Be Mailed By Tuesday, Nov. 5

In New York State, all ballots must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Ballots may also be delivered to the Board of Elections – in Manhattan, that’s 200 Varick Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY, 10014 – by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

'Extraordinary Measures'

To handle the influx of ballots, the Postal Service has reactivated a set of “extraordinary measures” aimed at speeding up ballot delivery.

These measures include extra deliveries, special pick-ups, and prioritized processing to help ballots reach election offices in time. The extraordinary measures will be in place through Election Day, with additional support continuing in states that accept late-arriving ballots.

During the 2020 election, the postal service reported that 99.89 percent of ballots sent by voters were delivered within a week, and similar efficiency is expected this year. For the first three weeks of October, nearly all ballots – 99.9 percent – have already been delivered within seven days.

For context, President Joe Biden won Georgia – or former President Donald Trump lost the state – by approximately .3 percent in 2020, or just under 12,000 votes.

The postal service advises voters to act quickly and avoid mailing ballots at the last minute to ensure they’re counted.

Questions? Patch’s how-to-vote guide for the Nov. 5 election is here.