If you’re mailing your ballot this November, don’t wait until Election Day. That’s the advice from Sen. Maria Cantwell and Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs as they held a joint news conference on Wednesday.
They say that late-postmark rejection rates more than doubled in 19 Washington counties during this year’s primary compared with 2024, with rural counties among the hardest hit.
The officials blamed a USPS rule finalized in December that moved ballot postmarking from local post offices to regional processing centers. They said the change can add days to delivery times, particularly in rural areas.
“Almost a third of the voters [vote by mail, and many] wait until the last 48 hours to vote. But under this system… a ballot received on election day might not be postmarked until the next day. That means your ballot won’t count,” Cantwell said.
She urged voters to use official ballot drop boxes when possible and, for those who must use the mail, to send ballots as early as possible.
“The U.S. Postal Service is trying to do everything they can to ruin vote by mail in the state of Washington,” Hobbs said. “We are all used to putting our ballot in the mailbox, knowing that if you put it in there before 8 p.m. on election day, it would be counted. But instead, this postmaster general—in coordination with the administration—changes the rule on postmarks so that it’s done at the central processing facility…. That could mean days that your ballot is delayed.”
The officials also mentioned a Snohomish County test during February’s special election in which fewer than half of ballots mailed on Election Day morning received a timely postmark.
Cantwell called for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to question USPS officials about the policy ahead of the November midterm elections.
The warnings come as Hobbs is also criticizing a planned federal voter-fraud investigation in Washington. In an Aug. 31 statement, he said voter fraud is extremely rare in the state and accused the federal government of creating unnecessary confusion ahead of the midterms.
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