Mail Class

The Postal Service continues to recommend that election officials use First-Class Mail^® for outbound Ballot Mail to voters. Using First-Class Mail allows for faster service while providing high visibility as Ballot Mail moves through the mailstream (when used with USPS^® visibility tools, like serialized Intelligent Mail^® barcodes). Nevertheless, the Postal Service has long engaged in several practices to prioritize Ballot Mail that is entered as Marketing Mail, regardless of the paid class, when capacity permits and mailpieces are identifiable as Ballot Mail by the Official Election Mail logo or other Postal Service visibility indicia.

The Postal Service will continue to process and deliver expeditiously, as we have done in past elections, with the result that Ballot Mail commonly receives delivery timeframes equivalent to First-Class Mail even when

mailed as Marketing Mail.