Although recent studies show many organizations have moved to online voting, some groups still rely on the US Postal Service to deliver paper ballots to voters. The postal service is looking at going into default by the end of September and expects to lose $8 billion or more this year.

The postal service is proposing major budget cuts and cost savings with several steps that may affect the delivery of paper ballots to voters:

• Eliminating 220,000 full-time jobs, in addition to the 110,000 jobs they’ve already cut in the last four years, plus 7,500 administrative jobs that are ending soon.
• Shutting down 300 processing centers by 2015.
• Closing up to 3,700 postal offices.

In addition, a new study commissioned by the inspector general revealed that the USPS could save about $1.5 billion a year if it gave itself an extra day to deliver first-class and Priority Mail, which generally arrive in 2-3 days. Other proposals include delivering mail 5 days a week or less instead of 6.

These changes raise questions for organizations that use paper ballots, such as:

• Will your organization have to send out paper ballots earlier to ensure delivery in a certain voting window? Sending out paper ballots is already a time-intensive process — when your window of mail delivery lengthens or changes, are you prepared to organize the process earlier?
• Do your voters live in areas that may lose a local post office, thus making the ballot return more of a chore? Voter turnout is one of the biggest challenges organizations face, and anything that decreases the likelihood of a voter returning a ballot should be a concern.

How is your organization conducting voting events in the age of technology? Will the changes by the USPS affect your voters?