WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has received the Public Service Award for its Election Mail program from the nonpartisan Election Verification Network.

The award is given every year to a public official or governmental unit for protecting and promoting election integrity and verifiable elections.

“This award is further confirmation of the Postal Service’s deep commitment and great success in delivering the nation’s ballots securely and on time,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “We take pride in the role our organization plays in the election process. The American people can continue to feel confident in using the U.S. Mail to fulfill their democratic duty to vote.”

The Election Verification Network is comprised of election officials, researchers and advocates focused on secure, transparent and verifiable elections.

“The award is additional recognition of the Postal Service’s successful processing and delivery of Election Mail, which has grown exponentially in recent years,” said Adrienne Marshall, the Postal Service’s director of election and government mail services. “Our 635,000 employees are proud to provide this service for customers who choose to use the U.S. Mail to participate in the democratic process.”

“The USPS is the only entity in the country that serves every single community, delivers to every voter, and serves every election office across the United States,” said Amber McReynolds, a member of the USPS Board of Governors and current chairwoman of the Board’s Election Mail Committee, in nominating the Postal Service for the award. “USPS has a vital role in the election process — not only for delivering ballot mail but also for polling place notifications, voter registration mailings and election education mailings.”

The Postal Service’s role in elections is to transport, process and deliver ballots mailed to and from election officials and voters. In 2022, the Postal Service formed the Election and Government Mail Services Team to focus year-round on the timely and secure delivery of Election Mail as interest and use of mail-in voting continues to grow.

In January, the Postal Service issued its 2022 Post-Election Analysis Report on Election Mail during the 2022 midterm elections. The report highlights the Postal Service’s successful delivery of 54.4 million ballots* to and from voters during the 2022 general election, with 98.96 percent of ballots delivered from voters to election officials within three days. On average, completed ballots were delivered from voters to election officials in under two days.

*Data includes Dec. 6 U.S. Senate run-off election in Georgia. The total number of delivered ballots may greatly exceed 54.4 million. This figure includes only those ballots that were properly identified as ballots using the correct electronic identifiers and does not include many of the ballots that the Postal Service diverted from its processing network or otherwise handled outside of normal processes in an effort to accelerate delivery.

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