Are mail-in ballots a ripple or a tsunami to the USPS? Some quick math.
In 2016 there were 134M votes cast with a fairly low turnout. Let’s assume the turnout in 2020 is 150M, with 80M votes cast by mail. Let’s also assume that everyone waits until the last 10 days (a bad case scenario) before the election to mail their ballots. The USPS delivers 421M pieces of mail per day.
With 80M ballots spread out over 10 days, 8M ballots per day is < 2% of the USPS daily delivery. Let’s factor in the 15% reduction in high-speed mail sorters, lowering the capacity from 421M pieces of mail per day to 358M. Then 8M items (ballots) per day is a 2.2% increase.
So ballots submissions are not going to overwhelm the USPS. Yes, there are roughly an equal number of ballots being mailed to voters for completion. One would hope this takes place long before mid-October. I’ve documented that some states allow you to request a mail-in ballot the day before the election! Axios
What must concern us is that, today, some mail is taking 3 weeks for delivery. The good news is that the vast majority of ballots are intra-state, if not intra-county. However, some bad news is that the removal of high-speed sorters targeted blue areas especially in Florida.
I’m looking forward to DeJoy’s testimony.