Delays resulting from the U.S. Postal Service’s cost-cutting measures have endangered the validity of ballots cast

Published October 24, 2026 6:00AM (EDT)

An election worker processes mail-in ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California's state primary election in the City of Industry, California, on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on ProPublica .

In early August, election workers north of Spokane, Washington, went across the street to the post office to check for late mail-in ballots. It was three days after the primary and they were expecting no more than a few dozen.

Instead, their mailbox was brimming with envelopes — more than 500 of them, each a vote that wouldn’t count. The sight was “jarring,” said Auditor Lori Larsen, a Republican who oversees voting in Stevens County.

Across the region, other election officials were getting similar jolts.…