Does the post office handle a whole election's worth of mail in the days before Christmas?
Even if all 255 million eligible voters mailed in a ballot, the volume would appear to be well below what the U.S. Postal Service has usually handled at Christmastime.
While first-class mail has been declining for 20 years, last year the service said it planned to handle 2.5 billion pieces in the week before Christmas, more than 400 million pieces daily based on its six-day-a-week schedule.
Allowing for likely turnout of no more than 60%, early voting (nearly a third of 2016 voters), ballots dropped off in person and actual voting on Election Day, the volume of mailed ballots would appear to be at most about 100 million. That number hasn't allayed fears of late or lost ballots, amplified by politicians in both parties. The service itself has warned states that their schedules haven't built in enough lead time to assure on-time arrival.
