Election Day is one week away. If you haven’t turned in your ballot yet, the Washington Secretary of State says, at this point, the best way to turn it in will be through an official ballot drop box.
That’s because of changes made last year that affect how quickly the U.S. Postal Service applies postmarks.
Ballots returned through the mail must be postmarked on or before Election Day to be considered on time. If you’ve already dropped your ballot off at the post office, it’ll likely be postmarked in time, but that window is closing.
“What I do recommend people to do, if you're about a week out from elections, is just put it in a drop box. Do not mail it,” said Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. “Because the rule making that the United States Postal Service did about a year ago with the postmark can delay the postmark 2 to 5 days later. So, it's just best to put it in a drop box.”
“If you insist on wanting to mail it or using the U.S. Postal Service, the best thing to do, especially if you're within that week, is to actually go to a postal clerk, have them stamp it. Really, that's the only way you'll be assured within that week period that you've postmarked it,” Hobbs said.
The Trump administration’s efforts to try to control or restrict mail-in voting systems through Executive Orders made headlines over recent months.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown recently told voters at a local forum, those were all successfully challenged in court, to uphold local control over the electoral process.
“The system that we have now is the system that we have always had. Everything that you have done in the past in terms of how you vote in Washington, is the way that you can trust our system still,” Brown said. “The only caveat on that is I want to continue to encourage people to not use the Postal Service and find a ballot drop box. That is the safest, most efficient and quickest way to make sure your ballot is counted.”
