This week on Mailin' It, we are joined by Adrienne Marshall, Executive Director for Election and Government Mail Services to talk about how the Postal Service handles election mail. Join us as we’ll learn about the Postal Service’s official role in the election process, the difference between election mail and political mail, and what you should know if you need or want to vote by mail.
In this episode, we talk election mail with the Postal Service’s Executive Director for Election and Government Mail Services, Adrienne Marshall. Election mail is any item mailed to or from authorized elections officials that enables US citizens to participate in the voting process. Join us as we’ll learn about the Postal Service’s official role in the election process, the difference between election mail and political mail, and what you should know if you need or want to vote by mail.
Dale Parsan:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Mailin’ It, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Dale Parsan.
Karla Kirby:
And I'm Karla Kirby. In this episode, we're going to talk with Adrienne Marshall about how the Postal Service handles election mail. Adrienne is the Postal Services executive director for election and government mail services. Adrienne, welcome to Mailin’ It.
Adrienne Marshall:
Thank you.
Dale Parsan:
Adrienne. Let's start by describing your role at the Postal Service.
Adrienne Marshall:
Okay, great. I joined the Postal Service in 1998 as a mail handler. I now head up the election and government mail services office. Our office is responsible for the strategy policy and execution of products and services in support of election and government mail. The
Karla Kirby:
Postal Service recently formalized your office. Can you tell me a little bit about how it works?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, Karla, the main takeaway from 2020 and the large increase in voting by mail in that year we recognize the need to form a permanent structure, which allows us to formalize and centralize activities for election mail at USPS headquarters. We have four election and government mail specialists that oversee election mail across the country. We also have four customer relations area directors who oversee 50 managers of customer relations and their teams, those managers and customer relation directors provide education and outreach for our election officials.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. That's that sounds like a lot. I think the best place to start our conversation about election mail is to explain to our audience exactly what that is - and what it isn't.
Adrienne Marshall:
Okay. Yeah, you're right, Dale. It is a lot
Karla Kirby:
So election mail does not include the things that people get in the mail from political campaigns.
Adrienne Marshall:
That's right. Karla. It, no political mail is it's a separate category of mail. It's, it's different from election mail - Political mail. Think about mailings for a campaign, from a campaign, from a registered political candidate or a campaign committee or committee of a political party. It can also be any other material by a political action committee. Some people refer to that as PSA or an organization engaging in issues of advocacy or voter mobilization. It may be sent for any public election partisan or nonpartisan. So for, for which there's a ballot.
Dale Parsan:
Okay, thank, thanks for clearing that up. I think it's also important for us to clarify something else before we get too far. What is the Postal Services official role in the election process?
Adrienne Marshall:
Our role, we primarily responsible, we're responsible for processing transporting and delivering the nation's election mail. We don't encourage or discourage people to vote by mail. We really don't have anything to do with making election laws or setting deadlines.
Karla Kirby:
And this is something the Postal Service has been doing for a long time. Right?
Adrienne Marshall:
That's right. Voting by mail has been around since the civil war. Absentee ballots were offered to both union and Confederate soldiers, so they could vote from their battlefield units and have them count it back at home. It was created to help ensure all US voters can participate in elections.
Dale Parsan:
Speaking of which primary season is winding down and general elections are fast approaching. I'm curious, do a lot of people use mail-in voting for primaries?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, you know, good question, Dale, this year, there have been more than 60 primaries runoff in special election since March. Mail-in voting has been available for all of them. There's been a nearly 200% increase in mail-in ballot this year compared to the 2018 midterms.
Karla Kirby:
Wow. That is a very large increase. What kind of challenges does that create for the Postal Service? If any?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, despite that number, it's a very small percentage of the number of the total mail volume we handle and we have processes and procedures for election season. It's something we deal with every year. So when we need to allocate more resources for processing and delivering the mail, we do that. Mail delivery for this year's primaries has gone well, 99.5% of ballots that voters mailed reached their election officials within three days.
Dale Parsan:
That’s fantastic Adrienne, how does this year's election ballot volume compare to the past few years?
Adrienne Marshall:
In 2021, we delivered more than 63 million ballots in 2020, of course a lot more people voted by mail due to the pandemic. We delivered at least 135 million ballots to and from voters in the general election. Nearly 98% of ballots from voters to election officials were delivered within three days. We had a 2.1 day average to deliver ballots from the election official to the voter. And then a 1.6 day average to deliver completed ballots from the voter to the election officials. In 2020 you know, we have proved that we have the capacity to handle high vote by mail turnout.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So I'm hearing a lot of numbers, a lot of percentages, let's put it in a frame of reference: Is that good? Right? Is how do we measure that 98% against, you know, doing a good job and, and delivering that mail on time.
Adrienne Marshall:
That's actually fabulous. We have a three to five day standard. So that's within… it's faster.
Dale Parsan:
Fabulous is right. Mm-Hmm
Karla Kirby:
Adrienne, You noted that nearly 99% of our election mails delivered within three days. What extra steps do we take with the election mail?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, thank you Karla, for asking. So this year between October 24th and November 29th, local postal management is authorized and encouraged to use extraordinary measures to accelerate the delivery of ballots. We implement and deploy a variety of extraordinary measures to deliver the nation's ballots in November. Our practices extend beyond our normal operating procedures to accelerate the delivery of ballots consistent with past elections. We help, it helps us to ensure that ballots mailed on or before election day by election officials and voters are delivered on time whenever possible. These measures include, but are not limited to bypassing a portion of the postal processing network to deliver ballots locally, a practice known as local turnaround. We also make additional deliveries to election officials making special trips to ensure that ballots arrive on time to be counted, and expanded processing hours.
Karla Kirby:
Well, that sounds like we've been moving a lot of election mail. So how does that work for US military and American citizens who don't live in the states?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, Karla, we partner with the state department, the federal voting assistance program and the military Postal Service agency to deliver ballots for members of the military, our diplomatic personnel, their families, and overseas American citizens. UOCVA, the uniform and oversees citizens voting act provides rules and guidance for these voters. There's a lot more information about that on the federal voting assistance program website at FVAP. That’s F as in Frank, V as in Victor, a as in Apple, P as in Paul .gov.
Dale Parsan:
So let's switch gears a little bit. I want to talk about something that is very important to anybody who's voting by mail and that's ballot security. How does the Postal Service ensure security when it comes to voting by mail?
Adrienne Marshall:
Well, Dale, we work closely with the US Postal Inspection Service and the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Postal inspectors are the law enforcement experts on mail security - one of the most trusted agencies that we have. They help election officials with concerns about election mail, security. They work with officials to identify and address security risk involving the mail. They also work with state and local federal authorities to investigate threats to election officials. And they respond to any reported criminal incidents involving election mail, including mail theft, mail fraud, and incidents involving threatening suspicious, or dangerous mail.
Dale Parsan:
Adrienne, that's, that's great to hear. Chief Barksdale has actually been a previous guest. We've had a few representatives from his as organization participate in a couple podcasts. It's great to know that the inspection service and the OIG are working every day to ensure that all mail is secure at all times.
Adrienne Marshall:
Yes. They're great partners with us.
Dale Parsan:
Adrienne, previously in the podcast, you had mentioned that the Postal Service isn't involved in actually setting any of the laws - we're in the business of delivering mail. How does the Postal Service work with election officials for primaries and general elections though? I'm sure there's a lot of collaboration.
Adrienne Marshall:
Yes, Dale. So the team of managers of customer relations, who I spoke about earlier, who serve as the points of contact for election officials, they meet with election officials. They make recommendations to the election officials. They can help them if they want ballot envelope redesign. They also make sure that ballot envelopes are machinable, that they can be sorted by our automated processing systems.
Karla Kirby:
Okay. So what should voters in the US do if they need or want to vote by mail?
Adrienne Marshall:
First they should know their state's requirements. You can find guidance for your individual states at usa.gov/election-office. Some jurisdictions automatically mail ballots to all of their eligible voters in jurisdictions. Where you have to request a mail-in ballot in order to receive one, we recommend requesting your ballot as early as your jurisdiction allows. Also our general recommendation is that as a common sense measure, you mail your completed ballot before election day and at least one week prior to your state's deadlines. Some states may recommend allowing even more time for mailing completed ballots. Another good source of information - if the voter needs to know what their state requirements are - is to visit #trustedinfo2022 website, a lot of information there,
Karla Kirby:
A lot of great information today. Do you have any parting thoughts for our listeners?
Adrienne Marshall:
Yeah, Karla, I really wanna reiterate that we are service provider, and if a voter eligible to use mail-in voting chooses to use the mail to vote, we want them to know that it's safe and secure. If you plan to vote by mail, you should plan ahead, give yourself enough time to receive and then complete and return your ballots by your state's deadlines.
Karla Kirby:
Thanks Adrienne, for joining us today for this episode, we've learned a lot of great information.
Adrienne Marshall:
Thanks, Karla. Thanks Dale. It was really good to be a part of this conversation today.
Dale Parsan:
Great.
All right, everybody it's time for Did You Know. this is a chance for us to share some interesting details about the Postal Service that most people probably don't know about. Karla, do you mind if I get things started today,
Karla Kirby:
Let's keep going.
Dale Parsan:
Alrighty. So in the early to mid 20th century, this was an exciting time for innovation in mail transportation.
Karla Kirby:
So absolutely the Postal Service tried out gas powered scooters, small three world vehicles called mailsters. And even that system of pneumatic tubes.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. That's one that we covered in a previous did you know, and all that's true, but I'm thinking of mail transportation over really long distances. Well maybe the most exciting advance in that area was the use of airplanes to carry mail. And the first few years after the post office department began service in 1918 were quite an adventure. And not always the good kind.
Karla Kirby:
That far back, I'm thinking of those rickety old by planes. Yeah. I don't think I'd be too quick to volunteer to fly one of those.
Dale Parsan:
Karla Kirby:
That definitely sounds like a good idea.
Dale Parsan:
Right? So Jennings Randolph, a representative from West Virginia endorsed an air mail pickup method called sky hooking, which had been developed by Dr. Lidle Adams - an inventor in Pennsylvania. The pickup process involved loading mail into a big rubber canister and then hanging it from a wire between a pair of 30 foot tall posts set 60 feet apart. Pilots would then swoop down and snatch up the container using a hook on a long cable lowered from the back of the airplane.
Karla Kirby:
Very cool, but did it work?
Dale Parsan:
Very well actually. The method entered service in May of 1939 with the first route flown between Pittsburgh and Huntington, West Virginia. The routes were flown by All American Aviation, which later became Allegheny Airlines and eventually US Airways. And in the first year they flew more than 438,000 miles making more than 23,000 pickups all without a single casualty.
Karla Kirby:
That is pretty incredible. But how long did we do this?
Dale Parsan:
Not very long.
Karla Kirby:
A guest flying commercial passengers was just more profitable.
Dale Parsan:
That's probably the simplest answer.
Karla Kirby:
So my fact for this episode focuses on the vehicle of choice for ace pilots while they're on the ground.
Dale Parsan:
Mm. Let me guess motorcycles? A little Top Gun reference?
Karla Kirby:
I am talking about motorcycles. Did you know that motorcycles played a pretty big role in mail delivery in the early 1900’s?
Dale Parsan:
I think I've heard that before. This was in the days before the mail truck really came into its own, right?
Karla Kirby:
That's right. So the first use of the motorcycle to carry mail, isn't exactly known, but the Postal Services published guidelines for rural delivery service from March of 1907 authorized carriers to perform service on motorcycles. By 1916 carriers were using bicycles and motorcycles, including early models from companies like Harley Davidson on about 8,000 routes in rural areas. But department officials felt motorcycles were a bit too dangerous - imagine that - and not well suited to carry the parcel post, even though many operators were using side cars to handle the extra volume.
Dale Parsan:
So they banned them?
Karla Kirby:
Well, Postmaster general, Albert S Burson tried to issuing an order in 1915 that by the following January, they'd no longer be permitted. But there must have been a strong outcry because he revisited his decision less than three months later to allow the motorcycles to remain in use. As long as they met certain specifications.
Dale Parsan:
Did they use them in the inner cities too?
Karla Kirby:
They absolutely did. In 1920, the post office department was using more than 700 motorcycles to move mail in cities, all received from the war department after World War I. Besides being used in mail collection and delivery motorcycles were also used by armed guards to tail early mail trucks and protect them from robbery.
Dale Parsan:
Interesting. When did they stop using the motorcycle?
Karla Kirby:
There's no actual exact date on that, but the final annual report of the postmaster general that mentions them was in 1928. It seems that automobiles and trucks were just more practical in the end.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. But a lot less cool,
Karla Kirby:
Agreed. That does it for this episode of Did You Know,
Dale Parsan:
Karla, what a great episode on election mail. I really think that the audience and even ourselves, we learned a lot from Adrienne today in regards to the topic. For me, one of the biggest takeaways, I think silly enough was the difference between election mail and political mail. I honestly thought that it was all just kind of created the same, but this was really enlightening. How about yourself?
Karla Kirby:
For me it was the fact that we moved 135 million ballots.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. And that it's even just still a small percentage of the mail that we actually move.
Karla Kirby:
Absolutely. But that increased volume and to accommodate of course, our service members and those individuals that are living overseas.
Well, that wraps up this episode of Mailin’ It. Don't forget to subscribe to Mailin’ It wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss the next episode and follow along on Instagram @USPostal Service, Twitter @USPS and on Facebook.