Election mail cancellation rolls out nationwide

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

On the heels of the recent rollout of a large font sprayed-on cancellation as reported in the Oct. 14 issue of Linn’s, a new cancellation design emerged related to the upcoming general election.

The new postmark’s design area, with horizontal bars at the top and bottom, reads: “As in past elections, USPS is ready. If you choose to vote by mail, please mail early.”

On the examples Linn’s has seen, the cancel location and date are presented in the previous smaller font size and not the new larger font that has turned up at some processing plants.

The Oct. 1 example nearby was shared with Linn’s by collector Trevor Bills. It was sent on the first day of use for the election postmark and was from the North Texas processing and distribution center located in the Dallas, Texas, area.

I personally am not sure how effective such messaging is on postmarks such as this, especially when the stamp partially obscures the text.

But it does serve the Postal Service well in attempting to project its readiness to handle election mail for the general election in November.

And for collectors of postmarks or even election mail postal history, this new cancel is definitely one for the album page.

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