The Department of Defense announced June 2 it will work closely with the U.S. Postal Service to get absentee ballots to and from U.S. troops overseas. "Postal employees at the local level will contact each of the approximately 3,000 county election offices throughout the country to coordinate the mailing of absentee ballots," said the department. "Once ballots are prepared for mailing, local post offices will facilitate the initial mailings of ballots via overnight Express Mail to the three military gateways (San Francisco, Miami and New York)." Completed ballots will also be expedited on their return.