SEATTLE – The number of ballots rejected for late postmarks has soared in the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon, according to newly released data highlighting concerns about recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations ahead of this fall’s pivotal midterm election.
The struggling agency has been consolidating its operations with an emphasis on regional hubs in an effort to save billions of dollars. Some U.S. senators and election officials have been warning for months that these changes could delay the application of postmarks to ballots — even if they’re mailed on or before Election Day. This situation would prevent otherwise valid votes from being counted.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read expressed his discontent with this development during a news conference, stating, “More Oregonians had their voices go unheard just because their ballots couldn’t make it through the mail in time. That is unacceptable.” This is a sentiment echoed by many who are concerned about the future of voting by mail, especially in Western states where it is universally adopted and popular.
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, falsely claiming it is riddled with fraud, despite having utilized mail-in ballots himself. Recently, his administration requested the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s ruling that blocked his executive order aimed at restricting mail-in voting, a method utilized by nearly one-third of voters in the U.S.
States Rush to Install More Drop Boxes
In response to the rising rejection rates, Read has called for emergency funding to install 20 new ballot drop boxes in areas where they are not easily accessible to voters. Washington’s Secretary of State has allocated approximately $300,000 this year to reimburse counties for adding 21 drop boxes.
In two rural Washington counties, both of which typically support Trump, over 4% of ballots were rejected for late postmarks in last month’s primary. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington remarked on the irony of postal changes potentially disenfranchising some of Trump’s most stable supporters, stating, “The Postal Service is disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that are leaving them with a ballot that was cast, but never counted.”
In December, the Postal Service finalized a new rule clarifying that postmarks do not necessarily reflect the date the agency first took possession of mail but instead indicate when it was handled at a processing center. With recent consolidations, these centers are often located farther from certain communities.
Moreover, since last year, USPS policy mandates that mail is transported once a day from post offices or collection boxes located more than 50 miles from a postal distribution center.
USPS Urges Voters to Mail Ballots Early
The Postal Service has acknowledged that changes in mail transportation could lead to postmarking delays and has advised voters to mail their ballots early — at least one week before they are due. They also stated that voters can go to a post office and request a manual postmark stamp, free of charge.
During Oregon’s weeklong grace period for the May primary, 7,314 ballots arrived with postmarks after Election Day, resulting in a rejection rate of 13%, which is an increase from 9.5% two years prior. In Washington, the number of late postmarked ballots surged last year after postal changes were implemented. Although the use of drop boxes increased this year, 20,267 ballots were still rejected for late postmarks, a rise from 16,131 in 2020.
California mirrored these troubling trends, with approximately 93,500 voters having their ballots rejected during the June primary due to late postmarks or arrival times.
Rural Counties Heavily Affected
The impact of these postal changes is particularly pronounced in rural areas. In Stevens County, Washington, the rate of rejected mailed ballots for late postmarks quadrupled. Stevens County Auditor Lori Larsen noted a significant number of ballots received three days after the primary had late postmarks, leading her to initially suspect an interruption in mail service due to wildfires. However, upon review, she recognized that this was not the case.
“To me that is a number that suggests that many, if not all, of those folks thought they were timely delivering their ballot into USPS custody,” Larsen remarked. In response, her office is working to double the number of secure ballot drop boxes in the county from five to ten.
In conservative Yakima County, nearly 4.4% of all ballots cast during the primary were rejected for late postmarks. Local mail is now sent to a processing center in Spokane, about 200 miles away, before being returned to Yakima. County Auditor Charles Ross emphasized that while elections officials strive for equal treatment, postal changes can disproportionately affect rural voters.
“If you’re in one of these rural areas and you put your ballot in the post office box three days before the election, and if you live in Seattle or Spokane and you put your ballot in the same blue box three days before the election — there’s a high likelihood that those two ballots are going to be treated differently,” Ross explained.
As the midterm elections approach, the implications of these postal service changes raise significant concerns about voter disenfranchisement and the integrity of the electoral process. With many voters relying on mail-in ballots, the urgency for solutions becomes increasingly apparent.
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Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
