Rejected mail ballots in Washington and Oregon have surged as thousands of voters saw ballots tossed out for late postmarks after Postal Service changes. The increase was reported in newly released data ahead of fall’s pivotal midterm election, when mailing time can decide whether a ballot counts.
Tobias Read said more Oregonians had their voices go unheard because their ballots could not make it through the mail in time. “More Oregonians had their voices go unheard just because their ballots couldn’t make it through the mail in time.” He added: “That is unacceptable.”
Washington and Oregon counts
The states are vote-by-mail states, and election officials have warned for months that ballots mailed on or before Election Day can still be rejected if postmarks are applied late. That warning became sharper after the Postal Service began consolidating operations with regional hubs in an effort to save billions of dollars.
Thousands of voters had ballots rejected during this year’s primaries. The state’s primary in May was part of the data Read discussed, and he tied the rejection problem to ballots that arrived without a usable postmark in time for counting.
Tobias Read and Steve Hobbs
Read’s remarks came at a news conference Tuesday, where he said the mail delays left voters without the outcome they expected when they mailed ballots on time. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has also been part of the public warnings around the Postal Service changes and their effect on ballot timing.
The Postal Service is trying to save billions of dollars through consolidation, while election officials say those changes may keep valid ballots from counting. That conflict is now showing up in the tally of rejected ballots, and the open question is how many more ballots will be caught by late postmarks before voters in Washington and Oregon cast ballots in the fall’s pivotal midterm election.
