USPS Facilities Failed to Enforce Election-Related Policies During 2026 Primaries

Some U.S. Postal Service facilities failed to properly apply or enforce election-related policies during the 2026 primaries, leading to errors and increasing the risk of mail delays, according to a Sept. 4 audit.

The agency’s Office of Inspector General audited nine processing facilities and 73 delivery units across eight states during the primary elections from March to May. The office said it observed five mail processing facilities in New Jersey and Tennessee in June in response to a congressional inquiry.

The Office of Inspector General said the Postal Service achieved on-time processing scores ranging from 97.75 percent to 98.99 percent for election and political mail from February through May.

It stated that while most facilities generally adhered to the agency’s election-related policies and procedures, the audit found problems involving “postmarking ballots, the Late Arriving Political Mail Report, all-clear certifications, and election training materials.”

“Although we did not identify any significant mail delays as a result of these deficiencies, consistent adherence to policies and procedures is necessary for the Postal Service to maintain clear operational visibility,” the office said. “Inconsistent application increases the risk that election and political mail is not handled, documented, monitored, and reported in accordance with Postal Service policy.”

Auditors found that about 12 percent of facilities were unaware of the proper postmarking policy, which is generally applied at originating processing facilities or by a Postal Service staff at retail units.

About 56 percent of mail processing facilities had hand cancelers, or ink stamps postal workers use to manually mark envelopes, displaying incorrect dates, according to the report.

The office said that during a May site observation at the Harrisburg Processing and Distribution Center, auditors found that a hand canceler used for Pennsylvania’s primary election day was set to March 19, 2026, resulting in at least 56 ballots being postmarked with the wrong date.

Another hand canceler at a Cincinnati facility displayed the invalid date April 43, 2013, the office stated.

Auditors also found nine unsecured hand cancelers at Cincinnati and Portland facilities, despite Postal Service guidance requiring them to be secured.

“Accurate postmarking and security of the round-date hand cancelers is important because, as of June 2026, 14 states; Washington D.C.; and several U.S. territories rely on postmarks to determine ballot eligibility,” the report stated.

According to the report, about 39 percent of facilities were unaware of the procedures for reporting late-arriving political mail, which could make it difficult for the Postal Service to justify why mail may be left unprocessed in a facility.

Auditors also found that management at about 16 percent of facilities failed to complete the all-clear certification process accurately, which could risk ballots not being delivered by the state’s deadline. The process requires delivery units to certify twice a day that they are clear of election and political mail scheduled for delivery that day.

The report said that 214 of roughly 1.27 million election and political mail pieces processed at the facilities visited by auditors were delayed, including 115 ballots. Of those, 110 ballots were recovered and processed in time, while five were not recovered before the delivery deadline to the Board of Elections.

Auditors also found that 30 percent of delivery units did not post election-related training materials for employees. Postal Service Headquarters management has said that displaying the materials is considered a best practice rather than a mandatory requirement, the report stated.

The Office of Inspector General provided 11 recommendations to address the issues identified in the report, and the Postal Service agreed to 10.

USPS said it would focus on “user-friendly tools and messaging applicable to all mailers” rather than using specific messaging for affected customers, according to the report.

The Epoch Times reached out to USPS for comment on the report but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The report came as a federal appeals court on Sept. 10 declined to allow the Postal Service to enforce its requirements to tighten rules around mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections.

Under the new rule, the Postal Service can refuse to ​deliver ballots that ⁠do not comply with the new standards.