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The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail. The lawsuit filed against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service on Sept. 9 argued changes implemented in June harmed access to mail services in Montana, resulting in delayed delivery of medical prescriptions, payments, and job applications, and impeding the ability of Montana residents to vote by mail. (Samuels, 10/15)

U.S. Postal Service employees and supervisors have routinely falsified data on package deliveries, likely so they are not penalized for tardiness, according to postal workers and internal data obtained by The Washington Post. And the practice appears to have intensified as Americans ordered more items online during the coronavirus pandemic. ... The problematic scans are among several practices that have drawn attention recently, as the Postal Service grapples with cost-cutting measures introduced by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and prepares for an unprecedented flood of mail-in ballots for the November election. (Zauzmer and Bogage, 10/15)

President Donald Trump is increasingly finding success in his strategy to restrict voting by mail — using lawsuits to stop late-arriving ballots from being counted in swing states. After failing to stop any states from automatically mailing ballots to all registered voters, Republican attorneys have starting to make inroads on a different issue — limiting when any ballots can be counted. (Kumar, 10/15)

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that absentee ballots in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina must have a witness signature, a boost for Republican groups seeking to enforce stricter rules on mail-in voting. U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro issued an injunction essentially barring voters from being able to “fix” an absentee ballot they had already sent in if it lacked a third-party signature attesting that the voter, and not somebody else, signed the ballot. (Reid, 10/14)

With less than three weeks to go before Nov. 3, roughly 15 million Americans have already voted in the fall election, reflecting an extraordinary level of participation despite barriers erected by the coronavirus pandemic — and setting a trajectory that could result in the majority of voters casting ballots before Election Day for the first time in U.S. history. (Gardner and Viebeck, 10/14)