Special to the Leesville Leader

With just days remaining until Election Day on Nov. 5, the United States Postal Service recommends that voters who choose to vote by mail do so soon.

As the organization anticipates an uptick of ballots in the mail over the coming days, Postal Service employees are working to ensure the ballots of every individual who chooses to vote by mail are delivered quickly and securely.

The Postal Service recommends that it is a good common-sense measure for voters who choose to mail in their ballots to do so before Election Day and at least a week before their election office needs to receive them. If a ballot is due on Election Day, the Postal Service recommends mailing the ballot by this Tuesday, Oct. 29.

For the upcoming 2024 general election, the Postal Service anticipates similar service performance as demonstrated in the 2020 general election:

• 99.89 percent of ballots mailed from voters to election officials were delivered within a week (7 days).
• 97.9 percent of ballots mailed from voters to election officials were delivered within three days, and 99.7 percent were delivered within five days.
• On average, the Postal Service delivered ballots from election officials to voters in 2.1 days and ballots from voters to election officials in 1.6 days.

For the 2024 general election the nation’s postal network is operating effectively without any major reported disruptions. Service performance across the nation is strong. In the first three weeks of October, Ballot Mail performance scores were high:

• 99.9 percent of ballots (combined: outbound from election officials to voters and inbound from voters to election officials) were delivered within a week (7 days).
• On average, the Postal Service delivered outbound ballots (to voters) in 2.0 days.
• 98.3 Percent of inbound ballots (from voters to election officials) were delivered within 3 days.
• On average, the Postal Service delivered inbound ballots (from voters to election officials) in 1 day.