Getty Is the post office delivering mail today?
November 3, 2020 marks the next presidential election, and Americans across the country have been encouraged to get out and exercise their right to vote. Without a doubt, it’s a very important date in the United States, so you may be wondering if the country considers is a holiday and, if so, that means that mail delivery will be halted in observance of the day.
Election day is not observed as a federal holiday, so you should expect mail to be delivered as it would on any other Tuesday.
If You Still Have Your Mail-In Ballot, You Should Hand-Deliver it to a Designated Location
The cut-off to mail in your ballot and feel confident about it being received in time to count, set by the US Postal Service, was on October 27. This means that if you are still in possession of an absentee or mail-in ballot, the date has passed for that vote to be received and counted in time for the election.
Rolling Stone points out that while a few states say they will count ballots postmarked on election day (November 3), they advise that if you still have a ballot to cast, you should drop it off at a polling place or appropriate ballot drop location.
Each state has different rules for where and when you can drop off your ballot by hand in order to make it count. Be sure to know what your options are; if you have any questions or concerns about how to get your ballot counted in time, you can visit 888ourvote.org for guidance.
The Next Federal Holiday Is Veterans Day on November 11
While Election Day is not recognized as a federal holiday, the United States Postal Service will observed a federal holiday one week later – Veterans Day is Wednesday, November 11.
According to USPS’s holiday schedule, Veterans Day is a “post office holiday.” This means that, on November 11, you should not expect mail to be picked up or delivered; your local post office will be closed, as well. Normal hours should resume the following day, on Thursday, November 12.
There are 10 federal holidays, on which mail is not delivered and the United States Postal Service is closed. They are: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (the 4th of July), Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
As the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing in the United States, the CDC recommends that mail and package deliverers, as well as the people receiving the mail, should exercise caution when working to slow the spread of COVID-19. In addition to staying home when sick, sanitizing, and wearing face coverings, they advise “Practice contactless deliveries whenever you can. Contactless deliveries allow you to leave a delivery at a doorstep, move back to a distance greater than 6 feet away while verifying receipt of the delivery with the recipient (if required), and try to do everything electronically whenever you can (e.g., in an app or over a phone). This eliminates the need for close contact between you and delivery recipient.”
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