What does the US Postal Service have to say about using "Informed Delivery" to track mail-in ballots?

A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson says it's not possible to use the Post Office's "Informed Delivery" service to track mail-in ballots.

The spokesperson from the USPS's Minneapolis offices says the "Informed Delivery" feature--a free service of the Post Office which tracks receipt of mail--is available to only to residential consumers and eligible personal Post Office Box addresses.

That means County Auditors in Iowa could not use the service as a way of tracking when mail-in ballots were processed by the Post Office.  Furthermore, "Informed Delivery" scans cannot be accessed by anyone other than the recipient, so it's not possible for a third party to view the scanned images.

"Informed Delivery" is a system which informs a mail recipient which mail they are getting.  While some Winneshiek County residents had suggested the system would be a way to resolve the issue of when mail-in ballots were mailed, the USPS spokesperson says that is NOT the case.