Adding a stamp to a postage-paid ballot will force USPS to handle it as first-class mail instead of bulk mail.

Postage-paid ballot envelopes are already designated as first-class mail in jurisdictions that provide prepaid return postage. Adding another stamp therefore does not change their USPS classification from bulk mail to first-class. USA Today reported that a USPS spokeswoman confirmed the additional stamp would not alter how the agency handles the ballot, and Lead Stories reached the same conclusion.usatoday.comusatoday.comFact check: Ballot envelopes with prepaid postage are already first-class mailleadstories.comleadstories.comFact Check: Adding A Stamp To Postage-Paid Ballot Does NOT Force USPS To Handle...

The claim also confuses postage payment with mail classification. Reuters reported in August 2020 that federal law requires proper postage and that election officials were expected to tell voters how much first-class postage was needed when postage was not prepaid. That requirement concerns whether sufficient postage has been paid, not a mechanism for upgrading a prepaid ballot’s handling.reuters.comreuters.comFact check: U.S. Postal Service will deliver mail ballots even with insufficient... Other reviews, including Agence France-Presse, Snopes and the VERIFY reports distributed by television outlets, found no evidence that adding a stamp would expedite a prepaid ballot. The exact design and postage instructions can vary by jurisdiction, and voters should follow the election authority’s instructions, but the central assertion that an extra stamp forces USPS to treat an already postage-paid ballot as first-class is contradicted by the available evidence.factcheck.afp.comfactcheck.afp.comAdding a stamp will not expedite US mail-in ballots with pre-paid postage+4 more