A ProPublica investigation revealed that employees at some Postal Service facilities failed to follow required ballot procedures during the 2026 primary elections. A September 4 federal audit documented inadequate training, weak tracking practices, inaccurate postmarks, and other mistakes that threatened to delay election mail.
The findings did not indicate a systemwide breakdown. Nearly 99 percent of approximately 6.3 million tracked ballots received an on time processing score, an improvement from roughly 98 percent in 2024. That measurement reflected how quickly USPS processed ballots, not whether election officials ultimately received them by the legal deadline.
Auditors warned that the failures increased “the risk that Election and Political Mail is not handled, documented, monitored, and reported in accordance with Postal Service policy.” At the same time, the report stated that “most facilities we visited generally adhered to Postal Service’s election-related policies and procedures.”
The audit still identified similar weaknesses at multiple locations.
“While instances of non-compliance were low relative to overall volume, the presence of similar procedural gaps across multiple facilities indicates a need for improved understanding and increased enforcement of Postal Service policies among its employees,” the report said.
Inspectors examined election mail operations at 14 processing facilities and 73 delivery units across eight states. 22 delivery units lacked posted training materials, while managers at 10 of 82 inspected facilities did not understand the correct procedure for postmarking ballots.
Employees at five of nine processing facilities also used hand stamps displaying incorrect dates. One Pennsylvania facility placed the wrong date on 56 ballots during the state primary. Postal workers in Harrisburg later discovered 108 ballots mixed with other mail and rushed them to Pittsburgh on Election Day.
The report gained added significance as the Supreme Court considered whether USPS could implement new mail voting rules connected to President Donald Trump’s March executive order. Those requirements would direct states to provide USPS with lists of voters eligible to receive mail ballots.
ProPublica had previously reported that senior postal employees and a whistleblower feared the untested system could prevent eligible citizens from receiving ballots.
David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research said the audit showed that USPS has “a long way to go to meet its core obligations of delivering election mail in a timely manner.”
“The administration and USPS are simply incapable of successfully meeting vast and radical new responsibilities under the president’s executive order,” Becker said.
The American Postal Workers Union raised similar objections in a court filing. The union warned that rapidly adopting the rules presented a “significant risk of wide swaths of Americans not being able to vote by mail.”
More than 100 election officials and local jurisdictions also urged the Supreme Court to block the policy. Their public appeal arguedthat election offices could not satisfy the requirements before November.
Chelsey Wininger of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State said USPS “struggles to implement even basic changes to postal process consistently.”
The Postal Service defended its overall record while recognizing that employees had sometimes failed to follow established procedures.
“while we acknowledge that we can always reinforce and amplify our internal processes and procedures (and will continue to do so between now and November) — overall ballot mail performance is strong.”
USPS characterized other mistakes as “isolated incidents” and accepted 10 of the audit’s 11 recommendations.
All in all, officials must clean up voter rolls, simplify election procedures, verify citizenship, and establish a transparent chain of custody for every ballot. Although this audit did not investigate immigration status or establish voter roll irregularities, its findings demonstrate the danger of combining administrative weakness with mass migration. The country needs tougher restrictions on legal and illegal immigration alongside comprehensive election integrity reforms.
