In its never-ending quest to mine popular culture for products that will be collected at least as much as mailed, the U.S. Postal Service has put its Web site to use, taking the temperature of America on the question of their favorite “Simpsons” character.

Between April 7 and May 14, users could go to the agency’s Web site and vote for their choice among the five stamps depicting Springfield’s first family.

And the dark-horse winner, by a pacifier’s length, is Maggie, the taciturn infant who has only spoken once during the TV’s program’s almost 500 episodes. Maggie garnered 29.7% of the votes cast, edging past Homer, who was favored by 28.8% of those polled.

Bart Simpson, the merchandisers’ pal, was never really in the running, picking up only 18.9% of the popular online vote n that time. And Marge and Lisa Simpson finished totally out of the money with about 11% each.

The “Simpsons” stamps were issued nationally on May 7 under license from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising.

The online vote drew more than 916,000 ballots in the 41 days the polls were open. That’s more people than voted on the design for a stamp commemorating the release of the first “Star Wars” back in 2007 and almost as many as those who opted for either the ‘50s Elvis Presley or the sequined ‘70s portrait in 1992.

“Elvis remains as the most popular stamp among all collectors, but the response to The Simpsons indicates that the ‘King’ might have some competition,” USPS executive director of stamp services David Faillor said in a release. “We’ve print3ed one billion Simpsons stamps, nearly double those printed for Elvis, so only time will tell how they rank in history.”

One problem the USPS faced with the Elvis stamp shouldn’t be an issue: In the case of the Presley postage, many users put them on envelopes marked with fictitious addresses, in order to get their letters back marked as “Return to Sender—Address Unknown.”

Of course, post offices in the various Springfields around the country might be doing more canceling than usual.

In its never-ending quest to mine popular culture for products that will be collected at least as much as mailed, the U.S. Postal Service has put its Web site to use, taking the temperature of America on the question of their favorite “Simpsons” character.

Between April 7 and may 14, users could go to the agency’s Web site at http://www.usps.com/ and vote for their choice among the five stamps depicting Springfield’s first family.

And the dark-horse winner, by a pacifier’s length, is Maggie, the taciturn infant who has only spoken once during the TV’s program’s almost 500 episodes. Maggie garnered 29.7% of the votes cast, edging past Homer, who was favored by 28.8% of those polled.

Bart Simpson, the merchandisers’ pal, was never really in the running, picking up only 18.9% of the popular online vote n that time. And Marge and Lisa Simpson finished totally out of the money with about 11% each.

The “Simpsons” stamps were issued nationally on May 7 under license from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising.

The online vote drew more than 916,000 ballots in the 41 days the polls were open. That’s more people than voted on the design for a stamp commemorating the release of the first “Star Wars” back in 2007 and almost as many as those who opted for either the ‘50s Elvis Presley or the sequined ‘70s portrait in 1992.

“Elvis remains as the most popular stamp among all collectors, but the response to The Simpsons indicates that the ‘King’ might have some competition,” USPS executive director of stamp services David Faillor said in a release. “We’ve print3ed one billion Simpsons stamps, nearly double those printed for Elvis, so only time will tell how they rank in history.”

One problem the USPS faced with the Elvis stamp shouldn’t be an issue: In the case of the Presley postage, many users put them on envelopes marked with fictitious addresses, in order to get their letters back marked as “Return to Sender—Address Unknown.”

Of course, post offices in the various Springfields around the country might be doing more cancelling than usual.