More mail-in ballots are being tossed for lateness than before—an ominous warning ahead of November’s elections.

The U.S. Postal Service’s capability could be what decides the November elections.

Election officials are sounding alarm bells that the snail-mail service may not be fit to handle the volume of mail-in ballots this midterm cycle. An analysis published Monday by The New York Times revealed that more mail-in ballots were tossed in 2026 and 2025 than in other years.

The Times examined some of the most heavily contested battlegrounds in 12 states—California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington—and found that ballots were discarded for lateness at a higher rate than previously recorded.

  • anon_8675309@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If my ballot is late they shouldn’t be doing anything with it but delivering it.

    It’s illegal to tamper with mail.

  • WanderWisley@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This was always the plan since day 1. Don’t be surprised if Donny Is live on TV burning mail in ballots while there are armed guards at polling stations on election day.

  • SarcasticMan@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    In Texas you can vote early from October 19th to October 30th, 7 a.m. to 7pm. There is absolutely no reason you can’t find the 20 minutes it will take to vote sometime between 7am and 7pm from October 19th to October 30th. If you live in one of these counties, you can vote at any polling station in the county you reside in.

  • Freeposity@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The USPS should not be throwing out my mail no matter what. They don’t throw out my electric bill when it’s late, so don’t fuck with my ballot.

    Edit: So the USPS can make your ballot late, then throw it out for being late?

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    You might need to vote in person. You might need to stand in a long line for quite a while. Your employer must, by law, give you time off to vote. It’s important that your vote be counted.

    • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      If I were the employer I’d be giving people the day off with pay as long as they come back with one of those “I voted” stickers

      • 4am@lemmy.zip
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        You’re not the employer because you actually want people voting and don’t want the fascists to make an owning class even more powerful. Employers would never make it easy for workers to vote.

        • nymnympseudonym@piefed.social
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          3 days ago

          Employers would never make it easy for workers to vote

          This kinds of childish, tribalist, Other-hating does nobody any good.

          For the record, I’ve had some bosses who are excited about civic duty and make a point of it. I’ve had others that begrudge it. Most seem to be totally neutral on the subject.

    • dan1101@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      If you early vote there shouldn’t be much of a line in most places. Either way it’s critically important that everyone vote.

  • 2hundredpancakes@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 days ago

    In Colorado, officials have built more mail-in ballot drop boxes so that denizens can have their ballots mailed early, increasing the total number of boxes by 78 percent since 2018.

    Now that’s what I’m talking about.

    Steiner, like the fascist that appointed him, can’t die soon enough.

    • CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world
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      Most of them are in pretty convenient places too, like light rail stations. Colorado still has plenty of issues, but they’ve done a pretty great job with their voting and voter education system.

  • minorkeys@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    None of the systems of democratic execution are equipped to deal with voters executing their rights. Its starvation by design. Increase friction to deter engagement. Invalidate votes even if cast. Remove ppl from rolls to deny them their constitutional right. The US Constitution is under siege from the GOP and Trump and they are succeeding.