A viral social media post claims that adding a first class stamp to your voting ballot will “force” the USPS to deliver it as first class.
An example of the claim as it appears on social media can be seen below.
Adding a stamp to your postage paid ballot will force USPS to handle it as first class instead of bulk.
Pass it on.
Despite the claim, adding a first class stamp (where one is not normally needed, as in the case of pre-paid postage envelopes) does not speed up the delivery of a ballot nor affect the way it is posted.
How mail-in ballots are delivered can vary between states and counties across the United States. Some states require voters add their own first class stamp (in which case, the circulating message above is irrelevant to them.) However many states include envelopes that include prepaid postage, meaning no stamp is required. We contacted the USPS to see if adding a stamp would affect the delivery speed and received this prepared statement –
If postage on a returning ballot envelope is pre-paid by election officials it is considered to be First-Class Mail, so adding postage to the envelope is unnecessary and will not enhance service.
The same statement also said that for those states and counties that require voters affix a postage stamp but no such stamp is visible, the USPS will deliver the voting ballot regardless.
As such, adding a stamp to prepaid postage envelopes containing voting ballots will not affect the speed of the delivery, and as such we rank this claim false.