AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine residents are sounding the alarm about a basic government service that’s supposed to be boring, reliable, and invisible: the mail. Instead, across parts of the state, Mainers report long gaps in delivery that are blowing up household budgets, delaying prescriptions, and leaving people guessing when, if ever, the next truck shows.
And now the question many are asking is unavoidable: If the U.S. Postal Service can’t consistently handle everyday operations, how can it be trusted with one of the most important functions in a democracy, voting?
“One day of mail in four weeks”
In South Portland’s Knightville neighborhood, residents told WMTW their mail has been “sporadic at best,” with one man saying Monday was the only day he had mail in four weeks and another warning that missed deliveries could mean late notices and doubled-up bills.
The complaints didn’t stay local for long. After WMTW aired its first report, the station said it received additional emails and phone calls from other communities experiencing similar problems.
Central Maine has reported the same: an Augusta-area story described Mainers going days and weeks without delivery, including prescriptions, paychecks, and bills, again tied to staffing shortages.
And in rural Maine, Spectrum News reported that Rep. Katrina Smith (R) said she heard from hundreds of constituents struggling to get their mail, with residents describing disruptions that affect medications and basic bill payments.
This frustration has moved from newspapers and TV packages to talk radio. On Friday morning, the George Hale/Ric Tyler Show on WVOM was taking calls about the mail-delivery mess, as listeners vented about missed delivery days and growing anxiety.
Maine is a “received-by” ballot state — late mail can mean a lost vote
For elections, the stakes are simple: late mail can equal a discarded ballot.
Maine’s absentee voting system is built around a hard deadline: absentee ballots must be received by the voter’s municipal clerk by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
That means Maine voters don’t get the comfort some states offer with “postmarked by Election Day” rules. In Maine, if your ballot arrives after the deadline, it’s too late, period.
Mail-in voting is also not going anywhere. Maine offers no-excuse absentee voting, and the state has expanded “ongoing absentee” eligibility for seniors and voters who self-identify as having a disability.
So, voters are left staring at an uncomfortable reality: mail-in voting is here to stay (for now), yet the mail isn’t working.
Postmarks won’t save you — and USPS is reminding everyone why
Even outside Maine’s receipt-deadline rule, the Postal Service has been publicly clarifying something many voters don’t understand: the postmark on a letter generally reflects when it’s processed at a facility, not necessarily the day a person drops it in a mailbox. USPS says customers who want a postmark matching the mailing date can request a manual postmark at a retail counter.
That may matter more in states where postmarks decide whether a ballot counts, but in Maine, it reinforces the bigger point: don’t rely on last-minute mail.
Why isn’t USPS staffed? The ugly mix of churn, hours, and a broken hiring pipeline
The immediate explanation for Maine’s breakdown is the same one residents keep hearing: staffing shortages, especially on rural routes.
A Central Maine report cited a USPS Office of Inspector General finding that in fiscal year 2023, nearly 80% of Rural Carrier Associate job postings in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont went unanswered, one of the highest rates in the country.
But “staffing shortages” isn’t a magic phrase. It’s a symptom, of problems the USPS watchdog has been documenting for years:
- Turnover and burnout in non-career jobs. USPS OIG reports have found persistent retention issues among “pre-career” or non-career positions, with challenges tied to schedule flexibility and working too many hours, exactly the kind of conditions that push new hires out the door.
- Hiring process friction. USPS OIG audits have examined hiring practices for roles like Rural Carrier Associate and other entry positions, reflecting ongoing concern that the hiring pipeline itself can be a barrier to filling vacancies quickly and consistently.
Layer on top of that the agency’s broader financial stress. Reuters reported this week that USPS posted a $1.25 billion quarterly loss and has accumulated roughly $120 billion in net losses since 2007, as First-Class Mail volume declines.
In plain English: USPS is under pressure, bleeding money, struggling to hire, and Maine residents are living with the consequences.
The democracy problem: trust is earned through daily performance
There’s a credibility issue here that election officials and political leaders should not dismiss.
A system that can’t reliably deliver utility bills, paychecks, and medications, the most basic mail people depend on, doesn’t inspire confidence when it asks voters to trust it with ballots.
Maine voters are already being told that absentee ballots must be in the clerk’s hands by 8 p.m. Election Day. If delivery gaps continue, that “deadline” becomes less about civic participation and more about whether your route happened to get served in time.
Mail-in voting may be “here to stay,” but confidence in it depends on a functioning postal system. Right now, in too many Maine communities, Mainers say they don’t have one.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows urged Mainers to let investigators “get to the bottom” of the mystery surrounding the 250 blank absentee ballots that a Newburgh woman said were found stuffed inside an Amazon delivery box, saying she wanted the truth “more than” anyone and trusted law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation. Bellows also pointed to the unresolved questions in the delivery chain, particularly the need for more information from UPS. and later said her office referred the case to the Maine Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for bringing any potential election law charges. Five months later, the public still has no answers. Another reason to not to trust the mail and Bellows with your vote.
Practical takeaway for voters: If you’re voting absentee in Maine, don’t gamble on the last few days. Use earlier return, and if available in your town, use in-person return to the clerk to guarantee receipt by the deadline.
