The integrity of vote-by-mail systems in Washington and Oregon is under scrutiny as recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations have led to a significant increase in rejected ballots due to late postmarks. This issue has raised concerns ahead of the critical midterm elections this fall, with election officials and senators warning about the potential disenfranchisement of voters.
The Postal Service has been consolidating its operations to save billions of dollars, but these changes have inadvertently delayed the application of postmarks to ballots. Even if ballots are mailed on or before Election Day, they may not be postmarked in time, rendering otherwise valid votes invalid. This problem has been particularly evident during this year’s primaries, with thousands of ballots being rejected.
Impact on Voter Participation
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read highlighted the issue during a news conference, stating that many Oregonians had their voices go unheard because their ballots couldn’t make it through the mail in time. This concern is compounded by the fact that vote-by-mail is a widely popular and universal method in some Western states.
The operational changes at the Postal Service have also drawn attention to the broader debate surrounding mail-in voting. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, falsely claiming it is riddled with fraud, despite having voted by mail himself. Over the weekend, his administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s ruling blocking his executive order that seeks to restrict mail-in voting, a method used by nearly one-third of voters in the U.S.
States Respond with Drop Boxes
In response to the growing issue, states are rushing to install more ballot drop boxes to ensure voters have accessible options. Oregon Secretary of State Read is asking lawmakers for emergency funding to install 20 new drop boxes in areas where they are not easily accessible. Washington’s secretary of state has already spent about $300,000 to reimburse counties for the addition of 21 drop boxes.
In two rural Washington counties that have reliably backed President Trump, ballots rejected for late postmarks represented more than 4% of all ballots cast in last month’s primary. Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington called it ironic that postal changes might disenfranchise some of Trump’s most stable supporters. She emphasized that the Postal Service is disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that leave them with a ballot that was cast but never counted.
Postal Service Policy Changes
In December, the Postal Service finalized a rule clarifying that postmarks don’t necessarily reflect the date the agency first took possession of a piece of mail but rather the day it was handled in one of its processing centers. These processing centers are increasingly likely to be farther from certain communities due to recent consolidations. Additionally, since last year, USPS policy has dictated that mail is transported once a day—rather than twice—from post offices or collection boxes that are more than 50 miles from a postal distribution center.
The Postal Service acknowledged that changes in how it transports mail could result in postmarking delays. It noted that anyone who wants to ensure their ballots are postmarked on time can go into a post office and ask for it to be stamped manually, free of charge. The consistent message to voters who choose to vote by mail is to mail early—at least one week before ballots are due.
Rural Counties Heavily Affected
In some rural Washington counties where voters often return ballots by mail because drop boxes are farther away, the data was most pronounced. In Stevens County in Washington’s northeastern corner, the rate at which mailed ballots were rejected for late postmarks quadrupled. Stevens County Auditor Lori Larsen noted that on Aug. 7, three days after the primary and during the state’s grace period for ballots to arrive, her office received a haul of 547 ballots with late postmarks.
In conservative Yakima County, where nearly 4.4% of all ballots cast in 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 said that while elections officials try to treat all voters equally, the postal changes could make it more likely that those in rural areas won’t have their vote counted.
Ross emphasized the disparity in treatment between rural and urban areas, stating that 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.
