美国邮政局冲刺递送选票：两个月投递42亿件竞选邮件，周日增派人手清仓扫描
华盛顿——据路透社报道，11月3日（周二）中期选举投票日临近，美国邮政局（USPS）正以延长营业时间、增派人手与专设选票柜台等一系列特别措施冲刺递送邮寄选票。过去两个月，该局已投递数千万张选票，并投递了创纪录的42亿件政治宣传邮件，较2024年选举周期多出逾3亿件。
邮政局是联邦政府行政分支的独立机构。部分网点将延长营业时间处理选票，并在零售柜台设立「只盖选票邮戳」专线或得来速选票投递通道；全局同时实施加急处理、额外投递与专门取件。各邮政设施在最后数日每天多次全面清仓扫描，搜寻仍待投递的选票；11月1日（周日），邮政局增派人手收集、盖戳与处理邮件，以加快选票投递。
今年邮政局承受的压力尤甚。特朗普总统此前命令邮政局制定规则：若各州不同意交出合格选民名单，邮政局不得递送其选票，一些选民由此对邮寄投票表达担忧。最高法院已于9月拦阻特朗普与邮政局执行这些规则。据多项调查，民主党选民使用邮寄投票的比例高于共和党选民。
作为对照，2024年大选期间，邮政局往返投递了9920万张选票；当年11月大选中约30%的选票以邮寄方式投出，低于2020年的46%。邮政局理事会主席 Amber McReynolds 表示，今年邮寄投票似乎略高于以往中期选举，部分原因是一些州较早寄出了选票。她说，邮政局自内战时期在 Abraham Lincoln 总统指示下开始递送选票，该局将继续以跨党派、非党派、不涉政治的方式运作，员工们是在「递送民主」。
在 Colorado 州 Golden，代理邮局长 John Douglas 凌晨4时就到岗，远早于平常。他表示，最后数日投递员会检查每一个邮箱、每一户人家，哪怕当天没有该户的邮件。他说：「我们想把一切都送到家，送到正确的手中。」距 Golden 约20英里的 Denver 处理与分发中心占地100万平方英尺，正处理数千万件政治与选举邮件；上周有一天，该中心单日处理了350万件政治宣传邮件。
选举日当天，邮政员工将额外往返邮政设施取回最后一批选票，邮政局也可能直接驱车把选票送到选举官员手中。各州规则差异很大：一些州只要求选票在11月3日前盖上邮戳，另一些州如 Colorado 要求选票在周二晚7时（山地时间）前送达选举官员手中，军人与海外选票除外。邮政局还开设了 electionmail.org 专门网站，供地方官员就选票邮件问题实时求助。McReynolds 表示，邮政局不会把公众对邮寄投票的信心视为理所当然：「我们非常认真地对待他们给予我们的信任。」
关联：跟进：美国中期选举提前投票破5400万张：较2022年全程多约800万，11月3日投票日临近
USPS Sprints to Deliver Ballots: A Record 4.2 Billion Pieces of Political Mail in Two Months
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is taking an array of special measures, from longer hours and extra staffing to special ballot lines at its branches, to make sure mail-in ballots for Tuesday's November 3 midterm elections are delivered in time to be counted, Reuters reported. Over the last two months, USPS has delivered tens of millions of ballots and a record 4.2 billion pieces of political marketing mail, more than 300 million pieces above the 2024 election cycle.
USPS, an independent agency of the executive branch, is conducting expedited handling, extra deliveries and special pickups of ballots. Some branches may extend their hours to handle ballots and set up a "Ballot Postmark Only" line at retail counters or a drive-through Ballot Mail option. Postal facilities are running daily, and sometimes multiple, sweeps in the final days to search for any remaining ballots, and on Sunday, November 1, USPS brought on extra staff to collect, postmark and process mail to expedite ballot deliveries.
The pressure on the Postal Service is greater than ever this year. President Donald Trump ordered the agency to write rules that would bar it from delivering ballots if states did not agree to turn over lists of eligible voters, and some voters have expressed concern about voting by mail. The Supreme Court blocked Trump and USPS from enforcing those rules in September. According to various surveys, Democratic voters disproportionately use mail-in ballots compared with Republicans.
In the 2024 presidential election, USPS delivered 99.2 million ballots to and from voters, and about 30 percent of votes were cast by mail, down from 46 percent in 2020. Amber McReynolds, chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, said voting by mail seemed to be a little higher than in prior midterm elections, in part because ballots went out earlier in some states. She noted that USPS has been delivering ballots since the Civil War at the direction of President Abraham Lincoln, and said the agency works in a cross-partisan, non-partisan and apolitical way, with its workers "delivering democracy."
In Golden, Colorado, acting postmaster John Douglas has been getting to work at 4 a.m., far earlier than normal, to make sure ballots are getting delivered. He said that in the final days, carriers check every box and every house, even if there is no mail to be delivered that day. "We want to get everything home. We want to get everything delivered into the right hands," Douglas said. About 20 miles away, the one-million-square-foot Denver Processing and Distribution Center is handling tens of millions of pieces of political and election mail; on a single day last week, it processed 3.5 million pieces of political marketing mail.
On Election Day, postal workers will make extra trips to postal facilities to collect the last ballots, or USPS may drive directly to election offices to get ballots in hand. State rules vary widely: some states accept ballots as long as they are postmarked by November 3, while others, like Colorado, require ballots to be in the possession of an election official by 7 p.m. Mountain Time on Tuesday, except for military and overseas ballots. USPS has also launched a special portal, electionmail.org, so local officials can get real-time help with mail-related ballot issues. McReynolds said USPS does not take public confidence in voting by mail for granted: "We take the trust we've earned with them very seriously."
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：美国邮政局（USPS）投递车辆在 Massachusetts 州 Waltham 一处邮政设施外列队（2020年1月摄，资料图）。照片：Sam LaRussa，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
