SEATTLE — If you haven’t already mailed your ballot for the upcoming election, Washington election officials are urging you to use a drop box, rather than a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mailbox from now on.
Recent changes to USPS transportation operations could mean ballots dropped in standard mailboxes this late could receive postmarks too late to be counted, according to the state.
In Washington, ballots must be postmarked by Election Day to be valid. State officials said Tuesday, July 28, was the final day voters could comfortably use a mailbox to ensure their ballot would be postmarked on time.
The advice follows changes by USPS to consolidate mail processing and change transportation operations to reduce costs. USPS has said some mail might no longer receive a same-day postmark under these changes.
Under the new policy, postmarks may indicate the day the ballot reaches a processing center rather than the day a voter deposited it. Officials said this change could lead to ballots being disqualified if they arrive at a center after the Election Day deadline.
“I do worry mostly about our rural voters that have the potential of receiving a late postmark,” King County Elections Director Julie Wise said.
In response to these changes, King County has increased the number of official drop boxes available to the public.
Steve Barron, the King County ballot collection and logistics supervisor, said the county is using data to place new boxes where they can be best utilized.
“One of the things, the data points I’ve been looking at are where we have high voter registration but low voter turnout,” Barron said. “So we put a box there, and hopefully those people that are registered will go because it is easier.”
Officials in other counties also emphasized the difficulty of informing the public about the shifting logistics.
Snohomish County Auditor Garth Fell said it takes significant time for messaging to reach the entire electorate.
“Voters work in four-year cycles, and so it’s going to take four years to reach everybody,” Fell said. “So I think we need to continue to spread the word.”
Voters who cannot reach a drop box can visit a post office counter in person to request a free manual postmark for their ballot on the same day.
Officials also recommend that voters use the website VoteWA.gov to track the progress and status of their ballots.
The Postal Service stated its long-standing advice has been for voters to mail ballots at least a week before Election Day.
In a statement to KIRO 7, a spokesperson for the Postal Service reiterated that USPS has not changed its postmarking practices.
“While we are not changing our postmarking practices, the aforementioned transportation changes do result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed,” the spokesperson wrote, “which means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilities may not necessarily match the date on which the mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location, including via a collection box.”
The Postal Service spokesperson reiterated their recommendation to seek a postmark for free in person.
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