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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is urging roughly 235,000 voters who still have absentee ballots to drop them off at their county board of elections rather than mail them, citing postal delays. Under a new state law, absentee ballots must reach county boards by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day; previously, ballots postmarked by the day before the election could arrive up to four days late and still count. Voters can track mailed ballots online, and anyone whose ballot doesn't arrive in time can cast a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, which will be counted if the absentee ballot never arrives.

The U.S. Postal Service says the Akron, Alabama Post Office will permanently close Oct. 31, citing non-renewal of its lease. The facility was abruptly shut on Oct. 14, 16 days earlier than residents had been told, prompting Rep. Terri Sewell to demand answers and reopening. Sewell disputes USPS's account, saying the lessor denied issuing any vacate notice and had agreed to extend the lease through 2031. Her office says the post office was dismantled within 24 hours, with P.O. boxes removed and no guidance given to customers, raising concerns about absentee ballots, Social Security checks and other mail ahead of local election deadlines. Operations shift to Moundville on Nov. 1; a mobile unit serves Akron in the interim.

Ann Arbor's city clerk's office has outlined early voting plans for the Nov. 3 election. Early voting begins Wednesday, Oct. 21, at two University of Michigan campus sites (the Museum of Art and Duderstadt Center) and expands Saturday, Oct. 24, to four branch libraries—Malletts Creek, Traverwood and Westgate—plus city hall. Early voting runs daily through Sunday, Nov. 1, with voting hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the library and campus sites, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at city hall.

Voters can register and check status online via the Michigan Voter Information Center, or register in person with proof of residency after Oct. 20. The clerk's office will extend hours in the final days before the election, and satellite registration is available at the UM voting sites. Standard polling locations are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Absentee ballots must reach the clerk's office by 8 p.m. on Election Day; the Veterans Memorial Park drop box has relocated to Fire Station 3.

Statewide, Michigan law bars release of early or absentee totals before 8 p.m. on Election Day, and bipartisan verification steps mean full results typically take time to post. Ann Arbor voters will decide local, state and federal races, plus ballot proposals.

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap warned the Board of Supervisors that mail-in ballots would move more slowly this election cycle, blaming the U.S. Postal Service for shutting down a Phoenix-area processing plant. Early voting in the county began Wednesday.

The Postal Service disputed the claim, stating it has not closed any Phoenix-area processing facilities and has ample capacity to handle local election mail volume. Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee criticized Heap, urging him to be more careful with his statements to avoid adding to voter confusion. The dispute follows a separate controversy in which roughly 3,000 early ballots were mailed out ahead of schedule, an error attributed to third-party vendor Runbeck Election Services, which drew criticism from President Donald Trump. Heap's office has not responded to requests for comment on the latest disagreement over mail delivery timelines.

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap warned that mail-in voting could be slower this fall, pointing to a U.S. Postal Service facility closure as the cause. The USPS pushed back on that claim, disputing Heap's account of how the closure would affect ballot delivery timelines ahead of Arizona's elections.

The dispute lands amid broader election-administration scrutiny in Maricopa County, including a separate finding from County Attorney Rachel Mitchell on whether a Peoria councilmember can run for reelection. Mail ballot reliability remains a recurring flashpoint in Arizona election cycles, with county recorders and postal officials frequently at odds over processing and delivery timelines. The disagreement comes as voters prepare for the 2026 midterm election cycle, including upcoming metro Phoenix council and mayor races. No specific service changes or confirmed delays have been verified independently; the exchange centers on competing characterizations of USPS operational changes and their potential downstream effects on when voters receive and return their ballots.

Ohio's Safe at Home program lets eligible survivors of domestic violence, stalking, trafficking and sexual assault keep their home addresses out of public records. The secretary of state's office provides a substitute mailing address, receiving and forwarding mail and legal papers to certified participants, who must attest to safety fears and be certified through a trained application assistant. Certification lasts four years and can be renewed. Sex offenders and child-victim offenders are ineligible.

A separate property protection, available since April 2022, lets participants file a Real Property Confidentiality Notice after acquiring ownership, removing addresses and parcel details from public-facing county records while preserving ownership and lien notices. The order matters: certification must come before the property purchase to qualify. The issue gained attention after Cuyahoga County restricted street-level home images on its public site over resident safety concerns, prompting renewed focus on existing legal tools like Safe at Home for protecting personal information tied to property and residency.

Washington, joined by 24 other states, filed a new federal lawsuit in Massachusetts seeking to block President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting, days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that states could not yet prove harm since the directive hadn't taken effect. The court did not rule on the order's constitutionality. Separately, a federal judge lifted a broader injunction that had kept the order from applying before November's election.

The finalized USPS rules require a federal eligible-voter list, specific ballot envelope designs, tracking barcodes, and election officials submitting voter data to a federal portal. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Attorney General Nick Brown said return ballots currently lack trackable barcodes, risking rejection, and warned it's nearly impossible to redesign ballots before the election. Hobbs urged voters to use drop boxes as a contingency and said the state would resist sharing private voter data while updating contingency plans regardless of the lawsuit's outcome.