Wisconsin election officials are planning for potential mail ballot delivery delays by encouraging voters to mail back absentee ballots as soon as possible or return them through other means.

Concerns Over USPS Delays

Ahead of the 2026 midterms, officials are taking steps to mitigate the impact of USPS delays on the election process. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin has sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission, arguing that voters should be able to cast provisional ballots on Election Day if they don’t think their mail ballot will arrive on time.

Unlike many other states, Wisconsin requires mail ballots to arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Historically, the USPS and Wisconsin Elections Commission advised voters that mailing back a ballot a week ahead of Election Day would suffice. However, the commission and municipal clerks are now calling on voters to allow more time.

Milwaukee election chief Paulina Gutiérrez reported receiving only 20 mail ballots on Election Day in April’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but more than 269 late ballots on the day after. Seeking to avoid such a high number of late-arriving ballots in the future, Gutiérrez told voters to use drop boxes or drop off their absentee ballot at early in-person voting sites.

Drop Box Options

In Madison, which received more than 100 late ballots in April, City Clerk Lydia McComas told voters that drop boxes open three weeks ahead of the August election. These concerns are shared by election officials across the state, with two-thirds of Wisconsin election officials saying they observed problems with absentee ballot mail delivery in the April election.

About one-third of officials said voters had complained to them about mail delays. Nearly 40% said that mail performance in the election was somewhat or much worse than mail performance in past elections.

Original reporting: Wisconsin Watch — read the source article.