The U.S. Postal Service says it is prepared to handle millions of ballots for the November 3 midterm elections, with Postmaster General David Steiner assuring reporters Thursday that the agency is ready for the final stretch of the election season.

“Everybody is engaged and absolutely ready for the next two weeks,” Steiner said.

Earlier this month, USPS announced a series of extraordinary measures to help ensure ballots reach election offices on time. Beginning October 24, the agency plans to extend hours at certain retail locations, expedite ballot processing, conduct additional deliveries and arrange special pickups. Steiner said the measures will also allow local facilities to bypass normal processing procedures when necessary to meet election deadlines.

The Postal Service said it is committed to delivering all ballots placed in the mail and urged voters to mail completed ballots at least one week before they are due to local election officials.

The preparations come amid a legal dispute over mail-in voting rules. On September 14, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to allow USPS to enforce a rule targeting mail ballots, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump's effort to tighten voting-by-mail requirements. The Postal Service subsequently said it would not enforce the measure under the court's order.

The agency had adopted the rule following Trump's March executive order seeking stricter standards for mail-in voting. Under the blocked policy, states would have been required to provide USPS with lists of mail-ballot recipients and use agency-approved ballot envelopes equipped with unique barcodes for outgoing and return mail. USPS could then have refused to send ballots that failed to meet those requirements or were linked to voters absent from the state-provided lists.

Mail voting remains a significant part of the American election system. USPS delivered 99.2 million ballots to and from voters during the 2024 presidential election, when approximately 30% of votes were cast by mail. That was down from roughly 46% in the 2020 election.

The midterms will determine control of Congress, with Republicans seeking to retain their majorities amid competitive contests across the country. Surveys have found that Democratic voters are more likely than Republican voters to use mail-in ballots, meaning changes to mail-voting rules could affect the two parties differently.

With the election approaching, USPS's expanded procedures are intended to help election offices receive completed ballots within their deadlines as millions of Americans prepare to vote.