Postal Service to have postal inspectors sweep underperforming facilities for election mail. Seven battleground states conducting sweeps do not allow ballots to be counted after Election Day: Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Florida, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Maine. According to new court filings, scores have steadily declined since Wednesday, when the USPS reported it moved 97% of ballots on time. To fix the issues, USPS has provided “multiple layers of operational oversight,” is coordinating closely with the USPS inspector general and has been holding daily troubleshooting calls. Some post offices have implemented “local turnaround.”That’s where ballots are being delivered directly to local boards of election instead of going through normal mail processing.

But mail ballots generally require more time to process than ballots cast in person. DIFFERENT STATES, DIFFERENT APPROACHESSome states with extensive experience in using mail-in ballots have adjusted for those extra steps. For example, mail-in ballots from Nevada voters are not due until Nov. 10 if postmarked by Election Day. In North Carolina, mail-in ballots were not due until Nov. 12 if postmarked by Election Day. Expect the Trump campaign's legal team to challenge the validity of many mail-in ballots cast in critical battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Many people in Florida opted in for early voting, possibly to skip the long lines on primary day or for a whole slew of other reasons. But what are you supposed to do if you voted early for a candidate who has already dropped out -- before Florida’s primary on March 17? And anyone who votes for that person will have his or her vote count -- as in, a vote for that candidate. Many states follow this same rule, but there are a few places that will let you have a re-do if your candidate dropped out before the primary. As you can see from this primary alone, many candidates drop out right before or directly after the juggernaut primary day.

These are the types of voting ballots and equipment used throughout the country, according to Ballotpedia:• Optical Scan Paper Ballot Systems: Voters mark their votes by filling in an oval, box, or similar shape on a paper ballot. Paper ballots are later scanned either at the polling place or at a central location. • Ballot Marking Devices and Systems: These systems are designed to help disabled voters who might be unable to vote using other methods. Rather than recording the vote into the computer’s memory, the ballot is instead marked on paper and later tabulated manually. • Punch Card Voting Systems: These devices employ a paper card and a small clipboard device.