The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to treat mail-in ballots in Georgia’s two high-stakes Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff elections as express mail, according to a Thursday report.

The USPS reportedly struck a deal with civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Vote Forward, to treat ballots still in processing plants within three days of Jan. 5 as next-day delivery.

A voter walks to the entrance during early voting for the Senate runoff election, at Ron Anderson Recreation Center, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Powder Springs, Ga. (AP)

Under the agreement, the agency will route completed ballots in Atlanta directly to vote-counters, conduct more robust sweeps for misplaced ballots, and track the results daily, the Washington Post reported.

The deal effectively avoids a major lawsuit ahead of the two Jan. 5 elections that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. The plaintiffs said they would hold off on pushing for more operational changes if the USPS held up its end of the agreement.

BEVAN: REPUBLICANS ‘SLIGHT FAVORITES’ TO WIN BOTH GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF ELECTIONS

More than 2 million Georgians have already voted in the runoff elections. The latest early voting numbers released Thursday by state officials indicate that more than a quarter of all registered voters in Georgia have already cast a ballot in the two contests.

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More than 1.3 million Georgians have cast a ballot through early in-person voting at polling stations that have been open for a week and a half, with more than 720,000 casting an absentee ballot.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.