The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to treat mail-in ballots in Georgia’s high stakes Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff election as express mail, according to a Thursday report.
The USPS reportedly struck a deal with civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Vote Forward, to treat ballots still in processing plants within three days of Jan. 5 as next-day delivery.
Under the agreement, the agency will route completed ballots in Atlanta directly to vote-counters, conduct more robust sweeps for misplaced ballots, and track the results daily, the Washington Post reported.
The deal effectively avoids a major lawsuit ahead of the Jan. 5 election that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. The plaintiffs said they would hold off on pushing for more operational changes if the USPS held up its end of the agreement.