1. Mail processing delays could result in more invalidated mail-in ballots this year, and elections officials are advising voters to vote as early as possible or drop off their ballots at a ballot box in order to have their ballots counted.
“Given some of the operational and logistical priorities that have ben set by the postal service, we really can’t guarantee that ballots sent by mail” on or immediately before election day “will be postmarked by that November 4 timeline, due to how they are processing their mail,” SOS spokesman Charlie Boisner said. Among other issues, the post office has been relying more heavily on regional processing center, rather than processing mail locally, Boisner said.
Earlier this year, USPS announced a policy update stating that it does not guarantee that mail will be postmarked on the day it’s received, potentially invalidating ballots that are mailed on election day, November 4, but postmarked later.
The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review first reported on the potential impacts to Washington’s vote-by-mail system last week…