Ҥ 3701. Prioritization of processing and delivery of election mail

“(a) In general.—The Postal Service shall give priority to the processing and delivery of election mail. In carrying out this subsection, the Postal Service shall at a minimum—

“(1) deliver any election mail regardless of the amount of postage paid;

“(2) shall, to the greatest extent practicable, process and clear election mail from any postal facility each day; and

“(3) carry and deliver election mail expeditiously.

“(b) Election mail with insufficient postage.—In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Postal Service shall process and deliver election mail with insufficient postage in the same manner as election mail with sufficient postage, but may collect insufficient postage after delivery of any election mail with insufficient postage.

“(c) Underfunded or overdrawn accounts.—The Postal Service shall process and deliver election mail, under the standards in place under subsection (a), sent from a customer using an account registered with the Postal Service (including a corporate account or an advance deposit account) even if such account is underfunded or overdrawn. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or otherwise prevent the Postal Service from seeking reimbursement from any person regarding unpaid postage.

“(d) Election mail defined.—In this chapter, the term ‘election mail’ means any item mailed to or from an individual for purposes of the individual’s participation in an election for public office, including balloting materials, voter registration cards, absentee ballot applications, polling place notification and photographic voter identification materials.

Ҥ 3702. Use of nonprofit permit for cooperative mailings

“Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation, a national, State, or local committee of a political party (as defined under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971) which is eligible to mail at the nonprofit rate may conduct a cooperative mailing at that nonprofit rate with a candidate, a candidate’s committee, or another committee of a political party, and may seek reimbursement from such a candidate, candidate’s committee, or committee of a political party for the costs of such mailing.

Ҥ 3703. Marking or notice on election mail

“(a) In general.—For the purposes of assisting election officials in processing election mail, the Postal Service shall place a marking or notice indicating that a piece of mail is election mail.

“(b) Requirements.—The Postal Service may determine the appropriate manner in which subsection (a) is carried out, but at a minimum such marking or notice shall—

“(1) be placed, as soon as practicable, at the time the election mail is received by the Postal Service, in a conspicuous and legible type or in a common machine-readable technology on the envelope or other cover in which the election mail is mailed; and

“(2) clearly demonstrate the date and time that such marking or notice was so placed.

“(c) Rule of construction.—Nothing in this section may be construed as requiring any change to the processes and procedures used by the Postal Service with respect to Postal Service barcodes on envelopes carried or delivered by the Postal Service.

Ҥ 3704. Application to Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act

“This chapter shall not apply to balloting materials under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and nothing in this chapter shall be construed to alter or otherwise affect the operation of such Act or section 3406 of this title.”.