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- The Postal Service strongly recommends the use of the Official Election Mail logo on all Election Mail. Use the Official Election Mail logo on any mailpiece created by an election official that is mailed to or from a citizen of the United States for the purpose of participating in the voting process. This includes balloting materials, voter registration cards, absentee applications, polling place notifications and voter reply mail. Use the logo on all classes of mail and all processing categories. The Official Election Mail logo serves to identify official Election Mail for Postal Service workers and distinguishes it from the millions of other mailpieces that are processed daily.
- Consider possible weight limitations. Printing instructions and information on both sides of forms will reduce the amount of paper and overall weight of your mail, saving postage costs.
- Some ink and paper colors will not work well on automated postal equipment. Consider different colors for different ballot types, districts, elections, parties, or inserts. Instead of colored envelopes, also consider using colored bands that encircle only part of the envelopes or borders placed away from postal elements such as the delivery address, postage area, and Facing Identification Mark (FIM). A FIM is a nine-bit binary code represented by vertical bars (with a corresponding space element) that serves to orient and separate certain types of First-Class Mail during the facing-canceling process. The only way to determine if a certain paper color and/or ink will be read by automated postal equipment is by submitting physical samples to an MDA for testing.
- Outgoing envelopes must not contain a FIM A or a FIM C, but they should have pre-barcoded IMbs to route the mailpieces.Information on the different FIM patterns is available in DMM 202.8.2 at https://pe.usps.gov/text/DMM300/202.htm#ep1123678.
- The Postal Service strongly recommends that return ballot envelopes contain a FIM A or FIM C and be pre-barcoded with serialized IMbs and 11-digit ZIPs. This will assist with correct facing and sortation on automated postal equipment. Serialized tracking codes also allow individual mailpiece tracking.
- The address and pre-barcodes must match. If not, there is a chance of creating a mismatch between the IMb code and address lookup, which can cause delivery delays.
- Follow DMM rules for address and barcode placement. The address should be left-justified and in the Optical Character Reader (OCR) read area. IMb barcodes must be properly located in the address block or lower-right barcode clear zone.
- On return ballots, do not include the original IMb code on the front or back of the return envelope. It is recommended that the return address printed on the front of the envelope be the same as the election office delivery address, if permitted by your jurisdiction.
- Return addresses should be on the top, left corner of the envelope.
- Minimize the use of any data matrix, QR, or other width modulated codes on the back of the envelope.
- Avoid extraneous data or markings in the address area that would affect readability.
- You must prepare balloting material mailings in accordance with Postal Service mailing rules and regulations, including DMM 703.8.0 available at https://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/703.htm#ep1174014.
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